


Meet The Anderson's

by Emmy_Mae92



Series: Meet The Anderson's [1]
Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-10
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-03-17 07:31:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 83,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3520679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emmy_Mae92/pseuds/Emmy_Mae92
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Blaine's phone rings constantly to voicemail, Kurt begins to get a little frustrated and concerned. With a little push from Burt, he finds himself at Blaine's front door, where he may be in for the shock of a lifetime and an entire new side to his boyfriend’s family that he never could have imagined in his wildest dreams.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Never In His Wildest Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, this story has been on fan fiction and my Tumblr for a while now, but I figured that I may as well start transferring everything to here starting with this story.
> 
> This is slightly AU in that Burt and Blaine went to New York earlier on in December in season 4 to bring Kurt home for Christmas, and our boys did end up getting back together while they were there so it’s canon up until 4x09 and veers off after there. Hope that you enjoy it.

 

“If you’re callin’ ‘bout the car I sold it, if this is Monday night I’m dancing, if you’ve got somethin’ to sell, you’re wastin’ your time, I’m not buyin’, - oh my god, you are kidding me - Kurt shh, you’re interrupting my masterpiece - if it’s anybody else, wait for the tone, I hope you know what to do. P.S. if this is you-know-who, I still love you. Beeeeeeeep,” Kurt huffed in annoyance as Blaine’s phone rang straight to voicemail for the eighth time in the space of two hours. A slow smile that he was unable to swallow covered his face at the song. More importantly, at Blaine’s change in lyrics and the stumbling over words as he tried to fit everything in, Kurt’s own laughter twinkling in the background as Blaine obviously fought his own back, and of course the mini argument that Blaine had refused to rerecord over.

Burt eyed Kurt from behind his paper, shaking his head slightly, “Just go see him Bud, you obviously want too and Finn’s already out with Sam and some of the others. It’s pointless you being cooped up in here.”

Rolling his eyes, Kurt glared pointedly at Burt. “Dad, I cannot just drop randomly in on him, that could just be weird.”

“He’s your boyfriend isn’t he?” Burt queried, folding his paper and sitting upright to take a closer look at his son, “Not to mention Blaine’s always just dropped in here.”

“But Dad, it’s Christmas Eve, I can’t leave you alone on the day before Christmas.”

“Kurt, kid, you’re being slightly melodramatic right now,” Rolling his eyes in a way not dissimilar to his son, Burt quirked an eyebrow, ready to stare Kurt down until one of them gave up. “I know that you’re nervous about your relationship with Blaine and the two of you are only just getting back on track, but doesn’t that mean you should spend as much time as you can together? Not to mention that Blaine’s probably alone, he hasn’t seen his parents since the beginning of September, right?”

Nodding contemplatively with a sad smile crossing his features momentarily, Kurt sighed and stood to grab his car keys, knowing full well that Burt would refuse to leave him alone otherwise. Stooping to switch on the twinkling Christmas lights on the outside of the house, Kurt shot his father one last smile and a wave before he was crunching through the snow to his Navigator, his baby blue scarf wound tightly around his neck and mouth, just about covering the tip of his nose.

“Finally,” Burt muttered with a smirk, “Merry Christmas to me.” Sitting back in his chair, he took great delight in having the house to himself before settling in to watch reruns of Ice Road Truckers, at least until Carol returned from her shift at the hospital.

* * *

 

Pulling up to the driveway in front of Blaine’s ridiculously large mansion on the outskirts of Westerville, Kurt glanced around in confusion at the battalion of cars parked around the round driveway. He smiled softly as he noted Blaine’s own silver custom Range Rover but was still confused as to who the rest of the expensive cars belonged to, knowing that Blaine’s parents preferred their chauffeur driven limos, and as Burt had pointed out, were still somewhere in Europe as they had been since the end of the Summer.

Walking up to the enormous front door, Kurt sucked in a deep breath, chewing nervously on his bottom lip. The last time he had been at the Anderson’s hadn’t exactly ended well, what with Mr Anderson screaming at Blaine up to the point where the young boy had packed a bag and stayed with Kurt for a week until his parents had disappeared off to Japan for a month. Personally, Kurt couldn’t wait until the day that Blaine turned eighteen, gained full control of his trust fund and could finally shoot his parents two fingers and walk away from them for good.

Lifting his fist, he was just about to rap on the door when it swung open revealing Blaine as Kurt had never seen him. His curls were wild and messy, his white V-neck and tight black jeans clung snugly to his figure, thick black rimmed glasses framing his large hazel eyes. Kurt eyed him warily, there was no denying that he looked good, but this wasn’t his Blaine at all, where were the brightly coloured pants and the bow ties?

“Blaine?” He muttered incredulously as the boy standing in the doorway eyed him up and down, a slow smirk starting to cover his features.

“Yeah, erm, hi,” The not acting like Blaine smiled, scratching the back of his neck and pulling the door open wider for the blue eyed young man to step through. His suspicion of the situation deepened as ‘Blaine’ stood back, not reaching for him at all in the usual cuddle monster ways of Blaine Anderson as the curly haired boy shut the door to keep out the cold.

“B, what’s going on?” Kurt questioned, tilting his head to the side slightly to get a better view of his boyfriend.

“Erm, well, you see,” ‘Blaine’ murmured nervously, glancing over Kurt as if he had never seen him before in his life.

“Benny, who was at the door?” A familiar voice called and Kurt’s head whipped up to watch Blaine as he knew him, complete with red pants, a black button down and a red bow tie, his curls lightly gelled in the way Kurt liked them, his forehead creased in concentration as he attempted to text and walk down the stairs at the same time. A feat that ended up with him whining at the bottom of the stairs not two minutes later, not even the intertwining green, gold and red garlands adorning the banister able to stop him when he had tripped over his own feet.

“Blaine!” Both Kurt and not Blaine yelled at the same time, diving for the bundle at the bottom of the stairs simultaneously as Blaine groaned and rubbed his head sitting up his eyes widening as he caught sight of them. The two of them easily slotted around him where he lay at the bottom of the stairs that curved around the Anderson’s gigantic fifteen foot Christmas tree decorated in red, gold and silver by Mrs Anderson’s personal interior designers.

“Oh boy,” Blaine muttered, eyes darting between Bentley now kneeling in front of him with a smirk and Kurt who had pulled Blaine back against his chest, one knee either side of his hips.

Pulling back from Blaine once he had ascertained that his brother was indeed fine, Bentley’s grin grew steadily as Blaine blushed and started to shake his head rapidly, wide eyes watching his duplicate.

“You didn’t tell us you had a boyfriend Blainey?” Raising his voice slightly Bentley snickered, Blaine groaning deeply and leaning back into Kurt’s chest, closing his eyes.

“Wait, wait, wait, did we just hear that right?” A voice yelled out as two more young men tumbled into the room from the dining room, identical smirks crossing their faces.

“Baby Blainers has a boyfriend?” The green eyed man of the duo grinned, Kurt looking between them and Blaine in bewilderment.

“Austin, Pippin!” Blaine barked, glaring first at the green eyed, shaggy haired looking of the pair and then to the blue eyed man with midnight black curls wilder than that of the boy who had answered the door.

“What’s going on out here?” A familiar voice called out and Kurt breathed a sigh of relief as Cooper appeared through the same doorway that the other two had just materialised from. He caught Kurt’s gaze and beamed, raising a hand before biting into his sandwich, “Oh, hey Kurt,” He continued, spraying food everywhere.

“Coop, that’s completely disgusting,” Kurt watched in wonder as yet another man with similar features to those present descended the stairs far more graciously than Blaine had ten minutes previously. The man wrinkled his confused nose in disgust, dark brown eyes scanning over Kurt and Blaine as one thick, dark eyebrow rose into his hairline which was immaculately gelled upwards into spikes.

“Well I am sorry Mr hotshot lawyer who rarely calls anymore,” Cooper grumbled biting into his sandwich once more with a roll of his eyes.

Blaine was now leaning forward from where he was still sat in the middle of Kurt’s legs, his face buried in his hands, mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like ‘this cannot be happening’ into his fingers. Kurt meanwhile was looking around the six vaguely familiar men now milling around the room, Bentley still studying the couple closely, a small smile flickering onto his lips as he watched Kurt’s hand run up and down Blaine’s back soothingly.

“Oh, anyway, they’re not boyfriends anymore!” Cooper cried triumphantly finishing the last of his sandwich ignoring the withering look that Blaine sent in his direction.

“Why not?” Pippin whined, eyeing the two on the floor.

“’Cos Blaine cheated,” Cooper stated matter of factly, Blaine’s face burning crimson in shame.

Bentley’s mouth dropped open in shock, “Blaine Devon Anderson!” Reaching a hand across he whacked Blaine across the back of the head, “Have we taught you nothing?”

“Actually no. You’re twenty seven minutes older than me and interested in girls, not the same thing. Everyone else is an idiot! And FYI Kurt is still my boyfriend,” Blaine exploded, Kurt pressing a kiss to his shoulder even though he was still more puzzled than he felt he should be.

“Twenty seven and a half minutes,” Bentley sulked, folding his arms and sucking on his lip like a petulant child, pointedly ignoring Blaine’s look.

A chuckle from the front doorway drew everyone’s attention and Kurt’s brain started to pound as a further four men stood there, pulling off winter woollens from what had obviously been a last minute shopping trip. “Everyone else is an idiot Blainey? Harsh words little bro, harsh words.”

One of the men who looked exactly like an older version of Blaine only with green eyes and an obviously different sense of style, yet the same immaculately tamed curls stepped forward, a protective fire burning in his emeralds orbs. “Alright, who upset Blainers? He doesn’t lose it for no reason at all.”

Blaine smiled weakly, the other five shuffling nervously. “Jude, it’s alright, I’m fine.” The green eyes flashed over him and when Blaine gave a slight incline of his head they seemed to settle once more, but the man had still moved subconsciously closer to Kurt and Blaine.

“How-how many of you are there?” Kurt stuttered, eyes wide and curious as they attempted to count all of the heads in the room.

“Ten,” Nine voices innocently answered as one, Blaine’s face reburied in his hands as he groaned loudly, many of those gathered laughing.

Kurt still looked confused as he took in the similarities in all of them, some minor like the way they were stood, some much bigger such as a shade of eyes or the wild curls. “And how exactly are you all related? At least I’m assuming you’re all related.”

Jude’s eyebrow raised as he caught the blush rising in Blaine’s cheeks again, “Really Blainey? He’s your boyfriend and he doesn’t know about your brothers?”

“He knows about me,” Cooper interrupted with a chuckle.

The man who had last descended the stairs smirked at him, “So he knows about the least important of all of us?” Avoiding Cooper’s outstretched hand, the stair descender smiled softly at Kurt, “Blaine’s the youngest of ten of us, not that he’s obviously told you any of this. Coop’s the oldest and we all decided to descend on Blainers for the holidays. I mean we always do, I don’t know why it comes as such a shock this year really Blaine.”

“Seriously, ten of you?” Kurt muttered eyes wide with shock as Blaine grabbed his hand, his eyes full of apologies. Squeezing Blaine’s hand softly he brought it up to his mouth to gently peck the back of it.

“Yep, ten over the space of thirteen years,” Austin grinned, “Now can we please get out of the hallway to do introductions? As pretty as the tree is I’m completely freezing my ass off.” Offering a hand to Blaine, he pulled his youngest brother to his feet and then helped Kurt up, directing them to the living room as everybody else began to follow.

“Reed, come help me in the kitchen, we need cocoa if Kurt’s going to survive this,” Jude smiled and one of the younger looking men with short black hair scampered past him into the adjoining room. Catching Kurt’s scandalised look, Jude smiled softly, “Kurt, there’re eight of us to introduce you too, you’re going to need all the help in the world to get through this. We’re erm, we’re slightly insane when we’re all together. Anderson dapperness goes out of the window. Well except for Austin and Pippin, they never had any to begin with.” Kurt and Blaine laughed with the other brothers, Austin and Pippin trying to protest.

* * *

 

“Jude said to start without him and he’ll introduce himself later. Ol just phoned so I doubt we’ll see him for a while,” Reed smiled, handing a mug brimming with whipped cream and mini marshmallows to Kurt who eyed it suspiciously. “It’s once a year Kurt, and it tastes damn good so enjoy it.” Reed dropped to the floor at the edge of the couch and started to lick the cream off of his own steaming mug.

Blaine shook his head slightly, a minute smile on his face, “I’m guessing we probably won’t see Jude again today if Ol’s on the phone.”

“True,” Cooper grinned, slurping up a marshmallow as the other laughed at him, “Now Kurt, how much do you know about the Anderson family?”

“Not much, I only really know about the existence of you Coop and your parents who I can’t stand and who can’t stand me, sorry but they’re assholes.”

“We know,” Nine voices sounded together, laughing as Kurt jumped.

Cooper smiled softly, “Well they’re very old fashioned as you know, and even if you didn’t, you could probably tell.” Rolling his eyes, Cooper gestured around the room furnished with a variety of antique furniture and paintings, even the Christmas decorations looking like those out of old movies, a large fire roaring away along the centre of the long wall. “The only thing they ever wanted was a perfect son,” Rolling his eyes again Cooper smirked slightly, “Apparently they could tell from the minute that we were born whether we would be or not. I think they took one look at Bentley and thought it was all down hill from there though which is why there aren’t more of us.”

“Hey!” Bentley cried from where he was rooting through a Christmas stocking, whipped cream surrounding his mouth.

“Jesus Benny, it’s like having a two year old around,” One of the as of now unnamed brothers groaned snatching the stocking from his hand and reattaching it above the fireplace where it belonged.

Austin grinned at Kurt, rolling his large green eyes, “Kurt, a) welcome to the insanity, and b) did you know that the look on a baby’s face just after it’s born allows the parents to know whether it’s going to be too liberal or too pro equal rights? Our parents are douches. End of story.”

Cooper ruffled Austin’s hair from where he was still standing, chuckling when the man brushed him off with a glare. “That genuinely is what they believe, it truly is petrifying and currently we’re all disappointing them majorly.”

It was Bentley’s turn to snigger quietly, turning to look at Kurt, “Yes because clearly not a single one of us is high flying enough, racist enough, homophobic enough or sexist enough.” Chuckling he shook his head, curls flying, “Kaitlin would damn well kill me if I told her to get back in the kitchen.”

“Kaitlin nearly kills you on a daily basis anyway,” Blaine muttered dryly, Kurt laughing softly beside him as Bentley stuck out his tongue. “Oh yeah, real mature Benny.”

“What can I say, we have a love, hate relationship. Mainly because I can be a idiot.”

“Anyway,” Cooper yelled gathering everyone’s attention once more with his exasperated tone. “The basic story goes that once each of us gains control of our trust fund at eighteen, has Blaine actually told you how much that is?” Kurt shook his head curiosity taking the best of him as he glanced to Blaine’s reddening features. “Two million dollars each, had they had the ‘perfect son’ straight away it would have been twenty million to the one kid.”

Kurt let out a strangled choking sound, Blaine patting him on the back; a series of groans and eye rolls flooding the room. “As you can tell Coop’s not at all bitter or pissed by this,” Pippin snickered avoiding Cooper’s hand as Kurt watched them all, mouth dropped in shock.

“Ho-How the hell?” He managed to stammer eventually, feeling all eyes turn his way.

“Old money and a damn good law firm that we think Lucas will one day inherit unlucky bastard,” Another of the currently unnamed answered with a soft smile, nodding towards the stair descender who looked horrified by the whole idea.

“I still say that once he croaks we sell it. I want nothing to do with that damn evil place,” Lucas grumbled, crossing his arms and sucking his bottom lip much in the same way that Bentley had earlier.

Waving a hand, Cooper shut him up once more, “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. But yeah, it’s a hell of a lot of money that doubles when we reach twenty one. The majority of us so far have taken the money and scarpered, Father scattered us all over the country for school anyway, believed that if we were all separate we wouldn’t be able to poison each other’s minds with ‘radical’-”

“Cough, equal rights for all, especially in marriage, cough,” Cooper turned an amused look to Pippin and Austin who simply shot him their best angel faces.

“Well yes, equal rights for all basically, therefore he might have the chance at one ‘perfect son’. Hence why Bentley’s currently at school in Washington D.C. and why Blainers was sent to Dalton, at least after being made to fend for himself at public school,” A low growl passed through the brothers and Kurt couldn’t help the small smile at how protective they all seemed, “At least until the Sadie Hawkins incident.” Cooper shot a glance to Blaine who simply buried his face in Kurt’s neck, the taller boy’s arms wrapping him in a safe little cocoon. Smiling Cooper tilted his head as a sudden thought came to him, “Actually, hands up anyone who’s actually heard from the so called parentals since August.”

The brothers all glanced at each other as only Lucas and Blaine raised their tentative hands. “Figures,” Cooper sighed sadly, “The one closest to being the ‘perfect son’ and the one left in their house, bet you haven’t heard from them since they left though Blainers?”

“Nope,” Blaine muttered darkly, popping the ‘p’ sound and raising his head from Kurt’s neck.

“Surprise, surprise,” Bentley rolled his eyes, reaching up to squeeze his twins knee with a reassuring smile.

“Can we actually introduce ourselves now? Kurt still technically knows nada,” Austin laughed, “Poor kid must be so confused.”

“You’re only twenty two Aus,” Bentley and Blaine whined at the same time, grinning and high fiving each other as Kurt jumped in shock and the others all moaned.

Shaking his head, Pippin laughed lightly, “I thought the pair of you had grown out of that?”

“Have you and Austin?” Blaine questioned with a quirked eyebrow.

Glancing at each other, the duo smirked, “Of course not.”

“Okay, that’s it, stop it right now,” Lucas shuddered involuntarily, “You know it scares the living crap out of the rest of us when you guys do that. Damn twins.”

“Anyways Austin, we know jack shit about Kurtie too,” Pippin grinned eerily, “No thanks of course to our baby brother telling us nada.”

“I knew,” Lucas, and the two unnamed brothers beamed.

“And I know for a fact that Jude knows more about Kurt than any of us,” Lucas grinned.

“What?” The other four erupted, all turning to yell at Blaine, Kurt taking the opportunity to rest his chin on Blaine’s head, laughing softly.

Blaine snorted ungraciously and leaned his head on Kurt’s shoulder, “As if I’d tell the four of you. You would’ve been straight back here banging on Kurt’s door and scaring him half to death in your attempt to find out more about him. I’m looking at you Austin.” Austin shrugged modestly, smirking slightly at the couple.

“Alright, alright,” Cooper laughed, calming the brothers once more as fighting broke out among them all. “It’s going to sound awful but follow Father’s old way of introductions.” The group all groaned but instantly started to move.

Kurt watched them in confusion as Blaine turned to him with a smile. “Your favourite film’s still ‘The Sound of Music’, right?” Kurt nodded slightly, Blaine leaning over to kiss him gently, “Well Father was kind of like Captain Von Trapp when we were younger.”

“Yeah, only without the singing or music or nice nannies. The whistles, lining up and marching sure, but our army of nannies were awful and our parents were hard as nails,” Bentley shrugged slightly, pulling Blaine to his feet.

“That’s awful,” Kurt gasped watching with intrigue, as the men literally seemed to fall into step, Cooper pacing in front of them. Kurt tilted his head and chuckled softly as the guys pushed and shoved each other all laughing hysterically.

“Yeah it was,” Cooper grinned, “But like hell did we not do it our way.” Cooper turned back to his brothers and rolled his eyes, “Attention!” Kurt laughed as the brothers instantly snapped their legs together and stared straight ahead, their chests still heaving with silent laughter. “Christ I remember when we used to have to do this and you were dragging that ratty old bear of yours with you Blaine.”

Blaine flushed slightly, a grin emerging on his face, “I was five Coop, and leave Baba alone, he still has a place in my room.”

“And that is exactly how we all still know that you’re the youngest, plus who calls a bear Baba?” Reed grinned, leaning around Bentley to look at Blaine who instantly shot him the finger.

“Guys, guys,” Cooper laughed before turning to Kurt. “Obviously I’m the oldest Kurt, god help me, and as you know I’m living in L.A. and trying to make it as an actor.”

“Free credit rating today dot cooooooom,” Austin and Pippin sang as the others fell about laughing and Cooper shot them a dirty glance.

“Anyway,” Cooper laughed, hitting the older set of twins round the back of the heads as he walked behind them, “I’ll let them go oldest to youngest, not that I’m sure you need introduced to Blainers of course.”

Kurt crooked his head in interest as the men rolled their eyes all pulling faces at Cooper when he had his back to them.

A man slightly taller than Blaine with deep brown eyes, slightly tanned skin and short fluffy black hair stepped forward, sending Cooper a dark look when he started to complain about the break in formation. “I guess you don’t even know my name yet,” He grinned easily and Kurt instantly felt himself warming to the man. “Erm, god this is awkward. Well then I guess hi. I’m Elijah, a year younger than Coop at twenty nine and a paediatrics resident in Seattle, but I did graduate from John Hopkins first.”

“Show off,” The other currently unnamed brother snorted as he danced forwards with a smile, shoving Elijah out of the way. “Noah, I’m twenty seven and a pharmacist in training out in New Haven. Any questions, feel free to ask away, plus I have a ton of dirt on Blainers which may or may not include video footage, recordings and pictures.” Kurt grinned as Cooper’s mini right down to the side parting in his hair stepped back in line, brushing his dark locks away from his face.

“Don’t you dare!” Blaine shouted from further down the line, pointing straight at Noah.

Instantly Noah dropped to his knees, bowing to Blaine as the others sniggered, “Yes your highness. You see Blaine, I could tell that you were talking just to me from the way you were pointing and talking REALLY LOUDLY!”

“I hate you all,” Cooper muttered flopping onto the floor with a glare, his brothers snickering seeming endless.

“Oh, I’m up,” Lucas grinned, flouncing forwards and instantly destroying Kurt’s earlier image of the put together dapper young man. “Lucas, twenty five, just graduated Harvard law school and I’m now training with a really awesome company in Boston.” His brown eyes twinkled as he decided to flop down beside Kurt, ignoring the line. “And I have a bunch of questions over how embarrassing Blaine can be at school? I heard something about ripped pants while he tried to do the splits in a disco number?”

Kurt laughed and nodded promising to tell Lucas the story. Blaine on the other hand was glaring at Bentley who was avoiding his gaze at all costs; forming a fist he punched his brother solidly in the arm, grinning in delight at the squeak Bentley let out in protest. “Jesus Blaine, you’re a boxer, remember?”

“Yeah well don’t blab when I tell you something then.”

“Okay children shut up and get out of the way,” Austin grinned, shoving the fighting twins backwards.

“Yeah, it’s our story time,” Pippin chortled, stepping up beside his brother. The pair shoved Lucas out of the way too, Pippin dropping into the spot where he had been, slinging an arm around Kurt’s shoulder, Austin propping himself up on the arm of the sofa to Kurt’s right. “Totally and completely fraternal twins, twenty two years old,” Pippin pointed to himself as he described his blue eyes, slightly paler skin and wild curly hair before pointing to Austin, “Aus on the other hand has green eyes, an actual tan and this mop of shaggy straight black hair thing, you still sure you’re not Harry Potter dude?”

“God no, that’s Blaine’s thing anyhoo,” Austin reached out to unsettle Blaine’s curls, where he had moved closer, eyeing his brothers and Kurt anxiously, the younger brother whining and pulling away. “I’m younger by six minutes twenty three seconds, we didn’t take as long as the brat pack,” Glancing to Blaine and Bentley his grin widened, “I’ve just moved in with Coop out in L.A., god help me, and I’ve just started my postgrad degree at the Southern California Institute of Architecture. Pippin meanwhile has foregone college and is working the comedy circuit out in Chicago with relative success so far.”

“The trick to comedy is just to be brutally honest really,” Pippin shrugged, “Although my parents think that I’m pre-med at Northwestern, there’s no way in hell I’m telling them the truth.” Austin reached around Kurt and rubbed a soothing hand up his brothers back smiling sadly.

Reed nudged his brothers out of the way with his elbows, taking Austin’s previous position on the arm of the chair. “Enough of the sad and since Jude’s not here, it’s my turn,” He beamed, offering his hand to Kurt, tugging Kurt into a hug at the last minute. “Reed, nineteen and I’m studying aerospace engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Erm, and thanks for making Blainers happy, they’ll lie but we’ve all seen a difference in him over the last year and a half.”

“And that brings us fully back round to our babies,” Cooper grinned, pointing to the identical twins still standing, fidgeting under the gazes of their brothers and Kurt.

“Dude, you guys have somehow managed to tell him all about me already, and I’m pretty certain he knows Blaine,” Bentley chuckled tilting his head and quirking an eyebrow. “But what the hell, Bentley, seventeen, twenty seven and a HALF minutes older than Blainey here and currently at boarding school in D.C. so that I wasn’t ‘under Blaine’s influence’. In short, my parents suck.”

“If you don’t know me by now I’m worried,” Blaine grinned diving onto Kurt on the couch, “But I think you can at least begin to see why I didn’t tell you about my psycho family.” Leaning down from where he was sat on Kurt’s lap, Blaine captured Kurt’s lips with his own in a sweet, sensual kiss.

“Keep it PG!” Both Cooper and Elijah yelled simultaneously. Meanwhile Austin and Pippin slammed their hands over each other’s eyes and Noah started to wolf whistle, the others simply chuckling.

Pulling away, Kurt glanced around the brothers and whistled lowly, “You guys are seriously ridiculously massive overachievers, you all know that, right?” The guys all laughed and shrugged modestly, a light blush sprinkling most of their cheeks.

“We do what we, oooh snow!” Noah grinned, leaping for the window swiftly followed by his mass of brothers as they stared at the snow falling from the sky in childlike wonder.

“SNOWBALL FIGHT!” Pippin yelled, leading the charge out of the door as Blaine wrapped his arms around a bewildered and amused Kurt from behind when the couple stood, leaning his head on the taller boys’ shoulder, he kissed it gently.

“A collection of highly intelligent minds they may be, but at the heart of it, they’re all hyperactive children,” Blaine smiled, burying his nose in the crook of Kurt’s neck as he shivered slightly.

“Blaine, come on!” Bentley called excitedly from the doorway, holding up Blaine’s coat and beanie.

Seeing Blaine’s puppy dog eyes and longing expression, Kurt gently shrugged him off, “Go baby, I’ll wrap up and watch from the doorway. The fight yesterday with you and Finn has exhausted me of a will to build snowballs until at least next year.”

* * *

 

“Hey,” A soft voice sounded beside Kurt and he glanced up from the tactical snowball war that had erupted in the front yard to see Jude stood beside him, offering him a spare blanket.

Kurt took it gratefully and watched Blaine shriek as Elijah shoved a handful of snow down his back. “Thanks,” He smiled softly, holding it out so that Jude could settle down close to him on one of the front steps and tuck the blanket around them both.

“They’re a little crazy, huh?”

“Just a little,” Kurt laughed, “Are they always like this?”

“When we’re all together, yeah, it’s pretty much our only time to let loose and not have to worry about people letting Father know what we’re up to. To be fair though, most of us live a sort of double life when it comes to our parents, what they see is not even remotely who we are,” He smiled softly, his green eyes meeting Kurt’s inquisitive ones. “Anyway, I’m Jude and I’m twenty one. It’s good to finally meet you Kurt Hummel. I’ve heard a lot of good things about you.”

“Wish I could say likewise, but I’m glad to get to know you guys’ now. Blaine was probably right to keep me away from the crazy,” Kurt laughed and Jude happily joined in, shaking his head as he watched his brothers, his eyes flickering between Kurt and Blaine momentarily.

Jude glanced back to Kurt and smiled sadly, “It’s just nice to know that Blaine’s not completely alone, you know? We all worry about him, he is most definitely the baby of the family and our parents are far too hard on him most of the time. It makes it even harder that he’s the one that they decided to keep in state on a tight leash. The rest of us were shipped of to boarding schools all over the country from the age of fourteen.”

Nodding in agreement, Kurt held Jude’s gaze, “Yeah, we’ve already been over that your parents are assholes. He’ll always have me though, regardless of anything that ever happens, he will always be my best friend, although I think Sam would argue with that.”

“Poor blondie got the shock of his life yesterday when we all dived on him at the door, I don’t think he knew we were back. We met him at the end of the summer,” He smiled at Kurt’s incredulous look before sighing softly. “Look Kurt, my brother is a good man. He fucked up. He fucked up big style, believe me he knows it. But I know what you’re going through, and believe me I know that it’s a horrible position to be in and it hurts like no hell that you ever thought could exist.”

“What do you mean?”

Jude smiled sadly, “When I was, well exactly your age actually, I left my other half behind at the boarding school in Colorado and took off for the east coast. Albeit I wasn’t happy about it at all, but there was no option sadly, Ollie’s a year younger.”

“Wait Ollie as in Olivia or Oliver?” Kurt queried, forehead creased in confusion.

“Oliver,” Jude smiled, flicking through his phone before passing it to Kurt. The blue eyed man took it curiously, smiling as he eyed the picture. A messy haired brunette man with lightly frosted tips was balancing on Jude’s feet, their fingers tightly interlinked as Ollie was hoisted into the air, Jude’s loving and protective gaze on him from where he was lying on the floor, his strong legs holding Ollie safely in place. “Sometimes I wonder about our maturity,” Jude laughed, a soft expression flooding his face as he gawked fondly at the picture before putting his phone away. “It was hell Kurt I’m not going to lie to you. When I got that phone call from Ol sobbing and telling me what he’d done, I hung up on him.” He smiled wryly when Kurt glanced to him, “Not one of my finer moments but it proves to me that you and me are a lot alike, you walked away from the confrontation too, huh?”

Kurt nodded slightly and Jude sighed moving subconsciously closer to Kurt and wrapping an arm around his shoulders. “I was distraught over it for months. It was Blainers who eventually talked some sense into me in the end. Turned out my sweet, innocent, adorable fourteen year old brother knew a shit load more about love than I did.”

“Really?” Kurt grinned, fondly remembering the small fifteen year old who supposedly was not good at romance.

“Yeah, Blaine’s always been a lot braver and smarter than me, well all of us really. He’s never been afraid to be who he is.”

“Wait, hold up a minute, I thought Blaine was the only gay person in your stupidly highly conservative family. Not to mention how your Dad treats him when he’s actually around,” Kurt frowned, his eyes raking over Jude’s guilt ridden face.

“Yeah,” Jude sighed, wringing his hands. “Like I said, Blaine’s a shit load braver than me. My parents don’t know that I’m gay Kurt.” Jude laughed humourlessly, “They still keep telling me that some day I’ll find that special girl to settle down with and have a family with and blah, blah, blah, much to Ollie’s amusement of course.” Jude rolled his eyes and Kurt smiled softly at how similar the gesture was to one that Blaine would have made. “Hell at the time of the big break up I literally had my fourteen year old baby brother and my friends to turn to, and that’s only because Blaine guessed everything for himself, but he’d come out the year prior and I became way too scared after all the crap that happened. Blaine thankfully persuaded me that the rest of our brothers wouldn’t give a rats ass either way, of course the little shit was right. So I told them the first Summer I was home from college, Elijah and Noah being charming enough to tell me that they already knew because they’d heard me talking to Ollie when I was sixteen. But I’ve been married for almost a year and a half and my parents still have no freaking clue.”

“Really? You ended up marrying him? Even after everything?” Kurt grinned happily, feeling hope rise in his chest.

“Yeah as soon as the bill passed in New York. The twenty fourth of July 2011, the best day of my life so far really.”

“The two of you live in New York?” Kurt’s beam widened as he studied Jude’s blissful face, the older clearly considering his life in the city that they both appeared to love so much.

“Yeah, we’re both studying ballet at Julliard. Thank god for our trust funds becoming ours at eighteen because that is yet another thing father dearest does not know about. Mommy and Daddy,” Jude pulled a face and Kurt laughed, “Well, they both think that I’m pre-law at Columbia.”

“That would explain the strong legs,” Kurt muttered thinking back to the picture and Jude let loose a sweet, honest laugh, “What are you going to do when this all unravels though?”

“I don’t know Kurt, I really, really don’t. I’ll always have my brothers and Ollie and I guess that’s what matters the most, but they’re my parents, you know? But if they made me choose, I’d choose Ollie in a heartbeat. That I don’t ever even have to think about, he is my entire world. He has been since I laid eyes on him the first day of his freshman year out at Charleston Academy not far from Fort Collins, Colorado.”

Kurt nodded emphatically watching a protective yet loving look flash through Jude’s eyes. Feeling for the entire clan of Anderson brothers, Kurt felt the sudden urge to hug his Dad and Carole. “It’s a hard thing to do Jude, especially when you’ve seen everything that happened to B too. Not to sound selfish or self conceited, but-”

“You want to know how I ended up forgiving Ollie fully, huh?” At Kurt’s shocked look and slow nod Jude grinned slightly, “I can tell you and Blaine aren’t acting normally around each other just from watching the pair of you.”

“Yeah, I mean I trust him I do, it’s just,” Kurt sighed drawing his knees up to his chest.

“You’re not sure it’s enough?”

Kurt looked up wide eyed at Blaine’s brother who was now smiling down at him sympathetically. Nodding slowly, Kurt kept his eyes trained on Jude’s face.

“That’s exactly how I felt. Do you love him?”

“Yes,” Kurt answered instantaneously, clasping his hands over his mouth, Jude’s lips curving upwards with the hint of a smile flickering over his face.

“You have your answer right there then kid.”

“I’m only two years younger than you,” Kurt muttered shooting him a withering glance as Jude laughed.

“Three, you may already be nineteen kid, but I’m twenty two next month, there’s only ten months between me and the twins, what my parents were thinking I’ll never know.” In a sign of his maturity, Jude stuck out his tongue, grinning when Kurt laughed softly.

“Thanks Jude.”

“Anytime, honestly, I’ll give you my number for New York too, I’m pretty sure you and Ollie will completely hit it off. Now if you will excuse me, I’m going to go phone my husband back while I have a few minutes peace without my millions of lunatic brothers who all want to talk to him too.”

Kurt chuckled watching Jude stand and open the front door, “Don’t worry, I’ll cover for you.” Hearing Jude’s laughter fade away, Kurt turned back to the most epic snowball fight of the century, watching everyone dive onto Cooper, effectively pinning him to the ground as he yelled about being crushed.

* * *

 

“You’re all morons,” Jude sighed, wrapping yet another blanket around a shivering Noah’s shoulders, the aspiring pharmacist shooting him a contented smile.

“It was damn well worth it,” Reed grinned, shaking and grabbing a mug of steaming tea from Kurt as the blue eyed boy made his rounds around the brothers, offering various warming drinks of teas, coffees and cocoa. Collapsing on the couch next to Blaine, Kurt chuckled softly and pulled his trembling boyfriend into his lap.

Bentley yelped and spat his coffee back into the mug, drawing chuckles and eye rolls from his siblings as he started to blow on it to cool it down slightly. “Not sure that’s true if we get pneumonia.”

Elijah head snapped up, “Benny! I’ve told you time and time again-”

“You cant catch pneumonia from the cold,” Bentley groaned, tipping his head back before shooting Elijah a dirty look, “Yes, thank you Lijah, that would be bio 101, which I’m pretty sure I’ve passed but it’s a saying so get over it doc.”

“Stupid younger brothers,” Elijah muttered darkly, drinking deeply from his own stiflingly hot mug.

Jude rolled his eyes again and grabbed the DVD he’d brought downstairs, “Right, no arguments, because you’re all such idiots, Kurt and I have decided that we’re watching ‘Abduction’, capiche?” Grinning at the groaning in the room, Jude stuck the DVD into the player. “Blame yourselves for being too cold to move. Besides at least there’s some action for you lot and Kurt, Blaine, and I can ogle Taylor Lautner shirtless.”

“Not my type,” Blaine frowned, Kurt laughing at the disgust on his face.

“I’d rather be forced to watch ‘Hairspray’ again,” Lucas grumbled, but settled back quickly with the glares shot in his direction from both Kurt and Jude.

Halfway through the film, Kurt felt Blaine’s head fall heavily onto his shoulder and smiled slightly at his sleeping boyfriend, curling his fingers through the younger boy’s hair, effectively ridding it of the minimal gel, Blaine mumbling slightly in his sleep.

Glancing to the pair, Austin’s face softened and a smile broke out on his features at the loving way Kurt was watching Blaine, lulling him gently into a deeper sleep. Reaching over, he grabbed the remote control from Jude’s side and paused the film, turning his body fully to look at Kurt. “Do you want me to take him upstairs?”

Kurt’s head snapped up to see all of the brothers watching the pair closely, awe covering most of their faces. Smiling serenely, he pecked Blaine’s forehead gently and shook his head slightly. “No, I’ve got him,” He murmured quietly, placing one arm securely under Blaine’s knees and wrapping the other around his back, lifting him as he headed towards the staircase again, nine sets of eyes watching his every move.

“He’s not alone,” Bentley grinned, breaking the silence that had surrounded the brothers.

Slinging an arm around his younger brother’s shoulders, Pippin grinned. “No Benny, he’s not. Not anymore.”

* * *

 

Laying Blaine out on the bed, Kurt stepped back, laughing slightly as Blaine rolled onto his side and made grabby hands in his sleep, his face scrunching up in confusion. Crouching down, Kurt placed one hand on Blaine’s hip and used the other to gently push escaping curls away from his face. “I love you,” He muttered, leaning his forehead on Blaine’s and closing his eyes softly.

“I love you too,” A small voice croaked, Kurt’s eyes fluttering open to stare directly into Blaine’s deep golden pools. “I’m really sorry Kurt.”

“Hey, hey, enough of that,” Pushing Blaine further back onto the bed, Kurt climbed on beside him and pulled Blaine onto his chest, running his fingers through the curls once more. “We’ve had enough apologies over the last few months to last a lifetime.”

Blaine chuckled dryly, “Yeah, those are my fault and I do owe you another apology, I should’ve told you all about them.” Hearing a loud cheer followed by yelling rise up from downstairs, Blaine winced slightly.

Grasping Blaine’s chin, Kurt guided his face so their lips crashed together in a slow, sensual kiss. Twisting them, he managed to end up hovering over Blaine, supporting his weight with his hands, peppering kisses to every inch of Blaine’s face and throat as the younger boy giggled underneath him, trying to squirm away from Kurt’s touch.

“You.” Kurt kissed each of Blaine’s closed eyelids. “Are.” His lips found the tip of Blaine’s nose, chuckling softly when he watched Blaine go cross eyed in an attempt to keep watching him. “Perfect.” Kurt’s lips recaptured Blaine’s before he allowed his forehead to drop to his boyfriend’s.

“I love you Blaine, please never forget that,” Staring into the deep depths of Blaine’s eyes, a slow smile crossed Kurt’s face. “We’ve both made mistakes and we’ve both paid dearly for them, but now, we’re going to be fine. It’s you and me, B, it’ll always be you and me against the world.”

“Always,” Blaine murmured, burying a hand in Kurt’s hair and rolling his eyes when more yelling erupted from below them.

“As for telling me about them,” Another cheer interrupted Kurt and both boys’ laughed, “Yeah, maybe you should’ve told me, but honestly? I would have been petrified had you told me at the beginning of our relationship that you had nine scary, protective big brothers who all look like they’ve just stepped out of an Abercrombie catalogue.”

Blaine snorted, “You should see them all first thing in the morning, before all the primping, not pretty.”

Watching Blaine yawn widely, Kurt couldn’t help the affectionate smile that flooded his face. Carefully, he nuzzled Blaine’s cheek, “I am going to leave you to sleep baby, because you are clearly exhausted and I have to get back for Christmas Eve dinner anyway.”

Blaine whined softly but nodded, “Okay,” Pressing his lips to Kurt’s once more he pulled back, eyes fluttering sleepily. “I love you Kurt.”

“I love you too,” Kurt whispered, drawing the covers up to Blaine’s chin, his breathing already deepening with the lull of a deep sleep. Pressing a kiss to Blaine’s forehead, Kurt smiled softly, “Always.”

* * *

 

“Kurt, you staying for a while?” Cooper smiled as the blue eyed teen stepped back into the living room to say goodbye.

Shaking his head, Kurt smiled sadly, “Unfortunately not, I’m being summoned home for a family meal.”

The Anderson brothers all glanced at each other, smirks forming across their faces as they all dived onto a laughing Kurt, hugging him tightly.

“Guys, struggling to breathe,” Kurt chuckled, Cooper starting to pull his brothers off until only Bentley remained.

“Thank you Kurt,” He whispered before releasing him, simply shaking his head with a shy blush when Kurt eyed him curiously.

Elijah wrapped an arm around his shoulders as he guided Kurt to the front door. “Kurt, we want you to know that you’re welcome here whenever.”

“Thanks,” Kurt beamed gently, grabbing his car keys from his pocket, “Soooooo, I guess I have the older brothers’ seal of approval then?”

“Hell yeah!” The nine shrieked as one, Kurt simply laughing.

“Oh and Kurt,” Lucas hollered as Kurt reached for the door of his Navigator, “You and your family should come over for New Years, believe me there’s nothing like an Anderson New Years party.”

* * *

 

“Hey bud, how was your day with Blaine?” Burt beamed as Kurt walked into the dining room, a large lasagne and salad already sat in the middle of the table, Finn practically drooling over the food.

“Enlightening,” Kurt laughed, joining his family at the table. “Oh, and we’ve been invited to the Andersons for a party on New Years. Believe me, you’re in for the time of your life,” Kurt smirked, ignoring the bewildered looks from around the table as he tucked into his lasagne.


	2. New Year's Eve

“Dad, come on! We’re going to be late,” Kurt whined, sticking his head round the door to his Dad and Carole’s bedroom, shooting Burt a dirty look when he took in the flannel shirt he was wearing. “Really Dad, you’re really going with that outfit?”

Burt chuckled softly, pulling Kurt into the room and holding him close. “Kid, breathe, it’s just Blaine’s house. Everything will be fine.”

“You have no idea what you’re letting yourself in for, I just hope that the chef is still on staff for this meal or we’re all going to die,” Kurt muttered dramatically as he left the room, Burt’s chuckles following him down the corridor. 

“I know that we’ve dropped Blaine off before and that house is huge, but just how rich are his family to actually have a chef on staff?” Carole questioned, battling with Finn’s hair while the teenager fought to push her hands away.

Watching his stepbrother act like a toddler before finally diving out of his Mother’s arms, Kurt shook his head in wonderment, smiling softly at Carole. “Ludicrously so, are you and Dad just staying for the meal or are you going to stay over?”

“Just the meal, then we’re heading over to the Berry’s New Years party so you kids can have some fun.”

“Fair enough. Even I’m a bit scared of how wild this could get,” Kurt cringed, fully able to imagine the older Anderson brothers attempting to ply the younger ones with alcohol judging by how much he had learned about them in the last week.

Carole gave him a funny look, “Hmmm, I never really saw Blaine as a party animal, but I guess if Cooper’s there anything can happen.”

Kurt laughed slightly guiltily, “Oh you’re in for a surprise Carole,” He grinned, ducking out of the room to gather coats in an attempt to avoid her curious look.

“Can we go already?” Finn whined, looking forlornly out of the window, “Blaine promised me like four courses and extras and then it’s party time,” Finn laughed, ushering the chuckling Burt and Carole out of the door to where Kurt was already waiting ready to hand them jackets.

* * *

“Oh boy,” Kurt whispered as they pulled into the long driveway, the brothers’ battalion of cars parked proudly around the outside of it.

“Is that an Aston Martin?” Finn yelped, his face pressed up against the glass, mouth dropped in awe. Kurt simply whined and buried his face in his hands; it was going to be an extremely long night at this rate. “I have to see that up close!” As soon as Burt stopped the car Finn was out like a shot, wandering around the silver car as he gave it a once over.

“Get away from that before you break something,” Kurt hissed, appearing at Finn’s side and reaching up to grab his ear to drag him away from the expensive car.

“Take it for a spin if you like?”

The stepbrothers turned simultaneously to find Bentley leaning against the doorframe smirking, Cooper already ushering Burt and Carole into the house. Kurt’s eyes widened and he started to shake his head rapidly, Bentley descending the few stairs in the front of the house, car keys in hand.

“Come on baby, let your brother have some fun,” Bentley sniggered, leaning in and pecking Kurt’s cheek as he handed Finn the keys with a wink.

Grabbing Bentley’s collar, Kurt pulled the boy back towards him, glaring at him, “If you want that car wrapped around a pole, you’re probably going the right way about it, now take the keys back. Now.”

Squeaking, Bentley nodded rapidly, Kurt now grabbing his ear along with Finn’s dragging the two towards the house where Noah and Elijah were waiting, laughing loudly at the trio.

“Kurt, Kurt this is sibling abuse!” Finn whined, still trailing Kurt, whimpering when Kurt simply tugged his ear harder, “And I’m pretty sure there’s a name for abusing Blaine like that too.”

“Abusing me like what now?” Blaine questioned, wandering down the stairs looking genuinely intrigued. Kurt instantly released the two that he was holding onto, rushing to Blaine’s side and capturing his mouth, muffling Blaine’s greetings. The slightly shorter teenager smiled into the kiss, winding his arms around Kurt’s shoulders, drawing him closer.

“Ewwww,” Finn and Bentley muttered, glancing to each other with startled expressions.

“Get over it,” Kurt snapped turning round, so that Blaine’s arms wrapped around his shoulders from behind, where he was still stood one step above Kurt. His hazel eyes surveyed the room in amusement, taking in his brothers disgust at the idea of their baby brother so much as kissing someone, and Finn’s confusion as he looked between Bentley and Blaine, his finger moving as rapidly as his head.

“But, wait, what? Why are there two Blaine’s? Is that even possible?”

Blaine spun Kurt round to look at him, his eyes wide and begging. At Kurt’s slight head tilt and soft smile, an identical smirk to the one Bentley had worn earlier crossed the youngest Anderson’s face and he happily bounced down the last step, skipping to stand next to his brother, directly in front of a now very confused Finn.

“I see what you mean Blainey. I mean he’s rather…”

“Freakishly tall? Yeah, makes us seem…”

“Like rather tiny hobbits? You know, we could…”

“Ask him what it’s like to be that tall? Yeah I tried once, he wasn’t really all that…”

“Receptive to the idea? Damn shame I was going to ask him…”

“To lift you up so you could see what it was like to be his height? Yeah even I wouldn’t go that far however…”

“Stop it!” A chorus of voices yelled as one, the twins spinning round to look at their older siblings and Kurt with a pout.

“We were only having fun,” They whined simultaneously.

“Ok, can we at least all be in agreement that that is so much freakier than the finishing each other’s sentence thing? I mean Kurt and Blaine do that daily anyway,” Reed grumbled, shuddering involuntarily, murmurs of agreement passing around the room.

Kurt and Blaine both opened their mouths to protest, closing them with a knowing grin when they caught each other’s twinkling eyes. Tilting his head, Kurt’s eyes scanned Blaine’s in a way that made it blatantly obvious that they were having a private conversation with just their eyes.

Slapping a hand over a squirming Kurt’s eyes, Jude grinned, “And the award for the creepiest duo goes to Kurt and Blaine because that was just plain and simply weird.”

“Who…what…but there’s you…and there’s…there’s you…two Blaine’s…just what?” Finn muttered his mouth hung open in shock as he stared between Blaine and Bentley still stood squinting up at him.

“Yes Finn,” Austin grinned, Finn’s puzzled face turning to glance at him momentarily.

Finn glanced around all of the other men in the room, his bewilderment growing to the point where he looked ready to scream as his gaze turned back to Bentley and Blaine. “What the hell is going on?!”

Kurt sighed, shaking his head slightly, “Finn Hudson, meet the Anderson’s.”

“That is such an awesome name for a reality TV show!” Pippin suddenly squealed his wild, dark, curls bobbing around with his excitement, Austin’s twinkling eyes wide with interest.

“Oh my god, we would be so much cooler than those damn Kardashian’s are!” Austin yelled, his excitement growing along with Pippin’s.

“Maybe we should pitch the idea to Coop? He has to have connections in L.A. by now right?”

“Hmmm, I dunno it is Coop, he’s not really the world’s best actor to be honest.”

“We’d have to all actually live together for this to work though,” Pippin frowned slightly, the fraternal twins oblivious to the amused and bewildered looks flooding the other faces in the room.

Austin shrugged slightly, “So we do eenie meenie minie mo to pick a state and then it becomes like the ‘Hunger Games’, makes for an even cooler show.”

“I can deal with that, but we work together, yeah?”

“At least until the end, then you’re on your own, there’s only one winner of the ‘Hunger Games’ after all.”

“Yeah, but Katniss and Peeta both won right?”

Austin rolled his eyes, “Exceptional circumstances duh, now let’s go find Coop. This is clearly the freaking best way to start the New Year.”

“I don’t think so Einsteins’, living room, sit and stay, now. Coop’s busy explaining a bunch of stuff to the Hummel’s,” Noah jumped in directing his brothers to the living room while Lucas herded everyone else in as they sniggered at the twins still trying to explain their plan for the new reality show to Noah in detail.

* * *

 

“So, you’re just identical twins, not clones or anything?” Finn queried half an hour later, sat between Bentley and Blaine on the couch, still glancing between them occasionally.

The room was filled with groans, Reed banging his head off of the coffee table until Elijah put his hand in the way to soften the blow. “Yes, they’re twins Finn. We’re pretty sure of it,” The oldest Anderson present sighed.

“Okay, okay. So if they’re twins, you lot are all brothers?”

“For the love of god,” Kurt grumbled, sinking back into the sofa, pulling a snickering Blaine with him, the curly haired boy’s face pressing into his chest.

“Dude, I’m just finding out what you’re getting yourself into here,” Finn huffed, folding his arms across his chest with a pout. “I mean there’s like ten of them, they could be mafia or anything, you just don’t know.”

“First do not call me dude. Second, do you actually hear yourself right now?” Kurt ground out, standing up to pace, Anderson’s sat on the floor leaping out of his way. “Finn, you’ve known Blaine for two and a bit years by now, what part of you thinks he could be part of the mafia?”

“Erm the same part of me that thought gee maybe Blaine has nine brothers that he’s hiding.”

“Touché,” Blaine grinned, ducking his head when Kurt turned to glare at him.

“Not helping matters here B, really not helping. Finn, just accept it and move on, horrifyingly you’ll actually get on really well with Pippin, Austin and Bentley.”

“I fear for us all,” Elijah muttered under his breath, Jude sniggering quietly beside him.

Austin and Pippin sent each other a look and each pulled a face before shrugging. “Are we really that dense?”

“Yes,” Everyone chorused, not even sparing them a second glance.

Finn’s eyebrows rose slightly as he turned to look back at Kurt. “Do they all do that a lot? It’s kind of creepy.

Kurt simply shrugged smiling sympathetically, “I’d say you get used to it, but I doubt I ever will.”

“Everyone good in here?” Cooper smiled, sticking his head into the living room, followed closely by Burt and Carole. “I’m assuming you’ve all told Finn.”

“We tried to, it’s like talking to a brick wall,” Noah muttered, Elijah smacking him round the back of the head while Burt attempted to cover his snort of laughter with a cough, avoiding Carole’s slightly amused glare.

“So, there are really ten of you?” Burt murmured, his face pale, eyes counting the heads of the Anderson’s who each nodded, Blaine sheepish, the others grinning.

“Of course,” They echoed once more.

Finn smirked slightly, glancing at Kurt, “I’m telling you bro, mafia.”

“I’m not even going to ask,” Carole sighed shaking her head and smiling at Bentley when he stood to offer her his seat.

“Okay, okay,” Burt muttered, pacing the large room while eyeing each of the brothers individually. “So, you’re spread all over the country, some of you at work, some at college and Blaine and Bentley are still in school, but in different states?”

“That’s about the gist of it,” Blaine nodded, smiling sadly, “Sorry I didn’t tell you Mr Hummel.”

Burt’s pacing instantly stopped and he turned to Blaine with a small smirk and raised eyebrow. “Blaine how many times have I told you to call me Burt?”

“Always once more Sir,” Blaine grinned, watching Burt physically cringe.

“Blaine,” He scolded lightly, the teenager simply laughing at him. “Bloody Anderson dapperness. Anyway I can understand why you never mentioned it squirt, it must be hard to know that they’re all there but so far away. But you know that I’m always here for you right?”

Blaine’s mouth dropped open, his eyes wide and misting slightly with unshed tears. Slowly he nodded, stepping into Burt’s open arms. “Thank you Burt.”

“Anytime,” The man muttered, patting him on the back. Glancing back around the incredulous looking brothers, “That goes for all of you. I know that your parents aren’t exactly there for you so I’m going to give you all my number. Phone me if you ever need anything, no matter how trivial it may seem.”

The Anderson’s all blinked rapidly, eyeing each other in shock and awe before turning back to Burt once more. Glancing at each other quickly, they all leapt up from where they were standing or sitting, latching onto Burt’s laughing figure, trapping him in the middle of a giant hug.

“Well, it looks like there’ll be another nine sons around every holiday and another nine birthdays to celebrate a year,” Carole chuckled, sat between her biological son and her son by marriage.

“Only nine?” Kurt frowned, his eyes searching Carole’s as her arm fell around him, tugging him close.

“Oh Kurt honey,” She laughed gently, her forehead falling to his, “Blaine’s pretty much been my third son for two years. I thought that much was obvious by this stage.” Smiling at him, she wrapped her other arm around Finn, the teenager’s head fell to her shoulder. She placed a gentle kiss to it before turning and pressing one to Kurt’s forehead too, “And I’m mighty damn proud of all of my boys’.”

“Ever think you would be able to say you were mother to twelve.”

Chuckling again Carole shook her head, “Never. It would have been a nightmare to have twelve toddler Finn’s running around.”

The trio watched as the Anderson boys’ slowly unlatched themselves, clearly overwhelmed with Burt’s offer of something which none of them had ever truly experienced, at least until reaching adulthood themselves, adults who actually wanted them around and would care about them. “Thank you,” Numerous members of the family murmured, still looking astonished.

“Anytime boys’,” Burt smiled, taking each of them in.

A shout from the kitchen drew everyone’s attention, “Austin, Pippin, I’m about to flambé prawns if you want to help?”

The fraternal twins glanced to each other, smirks covering their faces slowly. “Do we?”

“Oh yes.” Without another word the pair were fleeing from the room, giggling gleefully.

“You would never think that they’re twenty two and Austin’s doing a post-grad degree,” Reed snorted, sitting down by Carole’s feet with a shake of his head.

“Flambé, flambé, crap what’s that ag-, wait a minute,” Noah’s blue eyes widened astronomically, his feet diving off in the same direction as the twins. “Pierre do not let the pyromaniacs near the flames,” He screeched as he sprinted off, the room erupting into laughter.

“Something tells me that life just got even more interesting,” Carole sighed, shaking her head softly.

“Oh you better believe it,” Bentley beamed, joining the group of boys’ now surrounding her on the couch and the floor in front of it, Carole playing twenty questions with them in an attempt to get to know the new boys’ she knew would become permanent fixtures in the rest of her life.

“Burt, can I talk to you for a minute?” Jude questioned quietly, a blush spreading across his face when the man turned to look at him with a nod.

Stepping out into the hallway, Burt turned to survey Jude with a head tilt that was not unlike the one Kurt used when he was trying to get a handle on a situation. “It’s Jude, right?”

“Yeah, how did you know that?”

Chuckling at Jude’s bemused expression, Burt smiled softly. “Educated guess based on what Cooper told us about each of you.”

“That would make sense,” Jude smiled softly, scratching the back of his neck nervously. “Erm, I guess all that I really wanted to say was first of all thank you. I really don’t think you know what all this means to my brothers, and to me. It’s amazing to know that someone who barely knows us truly cares.”

“You’re welcome kid, and if any of you are anything like Blaine, and I suspect you probably will be, you’re all going to be great men one day if you’re not already,” Burt smiled clasping Jude on the shoulder. “What else was it Jude?”

“Oh yeah. I also wanted to say, well obviously you know that I live in New York,” Watching Burt nod, he smiled softly, “I promise that I will look out for Kurt as much as I can out there. I know that he’s a ridiculously strong person anyway, but I’ll make sure he’s actually okay and NYADA’s not stressing him out far too much.”

Burt pulled Jude in for a tight hug, ruffling his tamed curls gently. “Jude that means more to me than you can ever know and in return, I promise that I’ll look out for Blaine here. I’d have him move in with us in a heartbeat had I not thought that that would be when your parents would make a fuss.”

“Yeah they probably would,” Jude croaked stepping back and swiping at his eyes, Burt chuckling lightly.

“Man, Cooper was right, you are more sensitive than even Kurt.” Laughing, Jude followed Burt back into the living room, joining in the board game that his brothers’ and Carole had found somewhere.

* * *

 

“Okay, no offence because I really do love your parents Kurt, but now that they’re gone, let’s break out the booze.” Cooper grinned, laughing at the cheers resounding throughout the room, “Oh, but first, everyone fork over your car keys. It’s not that I don’t trust…well actually yes it is that I don’t trust you guys’ once you’ve had a drink so hand them over.” Holding out a bowl, he made sure that each of his younger brothers deposited their keys, regardless of their grumblings before placing his own into the bowl.

“What time are the others getting here Blaine?” Bentley grinned, routing through the liquor cabinet and handing numerous bottles up to his brother.

Finn and Kurt frowned slightly at each other, each moving to help the older brothers’ start moving furniture and setting up sound equipment in the large room. “What others?” Kurt queried cautiously.

“The Warblers spend every new year here and this time Sam’s coming too,” Blaine smiled softly, shrugging slightly, “There’s always a pool party in the summer although that was a little uncomfortable last year.”

“Little bastards shouldn’t have tried to blind our baby brother then should they,” Lucas grunted, rolling up the antique rug with Elijah.

Blaine simply rolled his eyes, “Yes and nobody is bringing that up again, understood?”

A grumble of understandings and numerous eye rolls passed throughout the brothers’, Blaine grinning when he finally had their consent. “That little shit Hunter that tried to take over again isn’t coming is he?” Elijah queried, taking an early swig from a bottle of vodka that an amused Bentley handed him.

“Elijah’s the only other one to have attended Dalton and stayed in Ohio until he shipped out to Baltimore for John Hopkins pre-med programme, so he knows all about the Warblers council system, given that he headed it in his senior year.”

“Damn right I did, and you didn’t answer my question Blainey.”

Blaine laughed, rolling his eyes as he helped Kurt to move a priceless piece of art that he personally found ugly as hell. “No ‘Lijah, Hunter moved back to whatever rock he crawled out from. Seb will be here though.”

“Oh goody, I do like Sebastian when he’s drunk,” Austin grinned, Bentley shrieking and ducking when he swung around almost taking the younger Anderson out with the gigantic speaker he was carrying. “That boy could make anyone question their sexuality when he’s wasted.”

“He has a surprisingly good way with words when he’s almost too gone to make coherent sentences,” Pippin smirked, carrying in the other speaker.

“Aah yes, but he gets in the words that matter,” Austin snickered, “In other words anything he deems sexual.”

Bentley bounced back over to Blaine, tapping him on the shoulder and pouting at him. “Blaaaaaaineeeeers please will you answer my question now?”

“Oh yeah,” Blaine glanced at his watch and grinned at his brother, “Twenty minutes, but Sam, Wes and Nick said they’d all be a bit late.”

“And if Nick’s late, you can almost guarantee that Jeff will be,” Lucas sniggered, high fiving Pippin.

“More than likely,” Blaine shrugged, pulling Kurt close and pecking his lips gently, “Don’t worry baby, it’ll be awesome, it always is, and this lot all like you far too much to let anything stupid happen.”

“Exactly,” The group chorused, Kurt laughing and leaning his head on Blaine’s shoulder gently while Cooper wandered back into the room, holding his cell phone and grinning at the process.

“Alright then, the taxis for each of the Warblers are arriving at 3am, everyone not confirmed to be staying over must leave then too,” He grinned, glancing at Kurt and Finn. “Kurt I’m not even going to try and tell you not to sleep in Blaine’s room, even I know that would be a pointless speech. Finn I might as well show you where you and Sam are staying now. Other than that, let’s get this party started!”

“And he’s supposed to be the mature one,” Bentley shuddered, Kurt laughing as he watched the identical twins literally mirror each other subconsciously in the way that they tilted their heads to watch Cooper ad Finn walk up the stairs.

* * *

 

Two and a half hours later the time was rounding on eleven pm and the party was in full swing, alcohol flowing among all of the boys’ present, the music pounding in the walls of the house. Sebastian and Reed were clearly the most drunk sat on the floor trying to trip people over as they passed by them.

“It’s always Reed who’s the first to go, but it’s nice to know that someone else can’t hold their alcohol either,” David laughed, standing with Kurt, Nick and Jeff while Blaine and Wes tried to coax the pair up from the floor where they were hollering and laughing from having successfully tripped Thad up.

“Some people really just can’t hold their liquor,” Noah sighed, shaking his head with a grin as he approached them, Bentley and Sam on his heels.

“What extra did you slip him this time?” Jeff chuckled, Blaine almost collapsing as he finally hauled Reed to his feet, Reed leaning his entire weight on his baby brother.

“Erm, I think there was like three extra shots of vodka in there,” Noah laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck as Reed and Sebastian finally stumbled over to the group, Blaine, Wes and Jude following with shaking heads.

“Ouch,” Nick shuddered, leaning his head on Jeff’s shoulder while watching Reed get eerily close to Kurt, studying his face intently.

Kurt glanced to Blaine over Reed’s shoulder, quirking his eyebrow with an amused expression. Blaine simply shrugged apologetically, his shoulders shaking with the effort not to laugh at Kurt’s facial expressions when Reed squinted at him, moving impossibly closer still.

“Kkkkurrt,” He slurred, Wes and David practically running away as the giggles overtook them at Reed’s drunken voice. “I l-like you K-Kurt.”

“Ummm, thank you?” Kurt grinned, his face twitching slightly as he fought back the waves of laughter. Sam coughed to hide his snickers and rushed off to join Finn and a group of Warblers on the dance floor.

“I, I do,” Reed hiccoughed, Blaine burying his face in Bentley’s shaking shoulder as the older twin started to gulp down his own drink trying to smother his laughter. “But you hu-hurt our Bla-Blainey Boo and I w-won’t like you so m-much anymore,” Reed went to swig from his glass, frowning when he found his hand empty, Jude secretively handing the half full cup to Jeff behind his back before Jeff dragged Nick off to the other side of the room, dumping the cup along the way. “Whe-Where’d that g-g-go?” Frowning, Reed moved to stumble off, the remaining brothers and Kurt bursting into laughter when he fell into Finn’s arms, the taller boy looking freaked out as Reed started to analyse him.

“Oh Reed,” Jude chuckled softly shaking his head, “Always the first one to fall. Pay no attention to him Kurt, most of us would take your side more than likely, we like you better.” He winked, slinging an arm around Blaine’s shoulder with a laugh.

“Doubtful. But anyway, Blainey-Boo?” Kurt smirked, sipping his own drink and pulling a face at how strong Cooper had made it.

Any brothers within hearing distance instantly burst into laughter, Blaine groaning and reburying his face in Bentley’s shoulder, shaking Jude’s arm away when he attempted to wrap it around his shoulder. “Old nickname,” Bentley grinned, rubbing Blaine’s arm up and down as two sets of slightly glazed over hazel eyes turned to Kurt, laughter dancing across identical faces.

“I figured,” Kurt grinned, tugging Blaine into his own arms and resting his head on his shoulder, watching Sebastian creep closer to Jude, an intrigued look on his face.

“Sebastian you’ve already tried hitting on me and I’ve already told you I’m happily married.” Jude answered without even looking at the boy.

“Straight,” Benny piped up, hands held up apologetically when Sebastian’s green eyes locked onto him.

“Spoil sports,” He pouted before shrugging. “Y-your l-l-loss.”

Slinking away, he grabbed Reed’s arm, the two staring intently at the liquor table that Cooper had banned them from at least a half hour earlier. Watching the two of them start to attempt an army crawl to the table, Sebastian singing the mission impossible theme tune as they crawled, most people in the room started to laugh at the less than inconspicuous young men.

Shaking his head in amazement, Jude laughed softly, “Right, I’m taking them to bed, they’re completely wasted, I don’t care if it’s not even midnight yet. Benny help me?”

Bentley nodded, still sniggering as he left Kurt and Blaine alone in each other’s arms. “Are these parties always like this?” Kurt grinned, ducking his head slightly when Blaine leaned over to kiss his forehead.

“Oh yeah,” He chuckled, watching Bentley haul Sebastian and Jude sling Reed over his shoulder as the two shrieked about their ‘civil liberties’ being tainted in their slurred voices. “Reed can’t hold his liquor to save his life and as we figured out in the summer, neither can Seb. You’re okay with him being here right? He really did turn over a new leaf at the end of the last school year surprisingly, minus the minor slip up of helping Hunter out. But even Jeff says that Seb and the rest of them were mainly blackmailed into that, and god knows blondie can’t lie.”

Kurt shrugged tightening his hold on Blaine, “As long as he sticks to hitting on your brothers and not you then it’s fine. He’s actually pretty entertaining.”

“GIVE IT BACK!” A voice roared and the boys’ glanced up as a pack of shrieking Warblers led by Nick and Jeff and being chased by Wes as they passed a gavel between them passed by where they were still stood.

“Dalton flashback or what? Why does he even still have that thing?” Kurt muttered blinking repeatedly in confusion. Blaine simply laughed and rounded the couch, pulling Kurt into his lap and pressing his lips to that of his beautiful boyfriend, ignoring the catcalls of those who had seen.

* * *

 

“Blaaaaaineeey, Kurtttty, come play twister with us!” Lucas grinned, popping his head in between the two lovers from where they were lounging on the couch tucked up in each other.

Kurt whined softly, burying his face in Blaine’s shoulder while the younger boy simply blinked blearily at his older brother. “Lulu, it’s af-after half three, I’m tired-ed.”

“Annnnnnnnd drwunk, come and pway!” Bentley yelled, jumping up and down on the couch jostling Kurt and Blaine yet miraculously not standing on them.

“Yeah, come join us!” Sam snickered, pulling on Blaine’s arm until he fell backwards onto the floor with a groan. Shaking his head, he staggered to his feet once more. “Come onnnnnnn, Pooper Scooper’s stolen the karaoke anyway.” The group glanced over to the corner of the room where Cooper was dancing and belting out a slurred version of ‘Love Shack’ watched on by Austin and Pippin hollering their support, Noah passed out on the chair behind them.

“Heh heh heh, Pooper Scooper,” Bentley snorted, his eyes flickering over Cooper’s bad dance moves whilst he staggered towards the stairs attempting to avoid tripping over his own feet.

“We d-do a better o-one,” Blaine muttered, glaring at Cooper and pulling Kurt to his feet as they joined Lucas, Sam and Jude at the twister mat, the Warblers having left not long ago when Elijah and Finn stumbled up the stairs to bed. Bentley watched with intense yet drunk eyes from his seat on the stairs as they just about managed to get the twister mat flattened onto the floor. Twisting his phone between his fingers, a smile lifted the corners of his mouth when he found the number his brain remembered trying to find earlier in the night.

“I get to do the spinny thing!” Jude cried almost tripping over his feet as he snatched the spinner from Sam’s hand with a growl, dropping to sit cross-legged beside the mat and looking expectantly at the young men in front of him.

The four boys’ playing quickly got into the swing of things, proving that they were indeed more flexible than they had thought. Kurt watched Blaine flex a leg out over the top of Sam’s shoulder and couldn’t help the lust that filled his eyes as Blaine’s shirt rode up slightly in the new position. “Kurt, Kuuuurt, you need to move your right foot to a blue space,” Jude informed him, a playful glint in his eye. Glancing to the nearest blue spot, Kurt whimpered softly before attempting to move his foot.

Lucas picked that moment to look up, his eyes widening as he saw Kurt’s new position. Tipping his head to the left, he watched Blaine laugh at something Sam was saying but failed to get his attention. “Blaine, pssst Blaine,” He murmured, gathering the attention of all three of the other players and Jude. “I’m in a real compro-promising-sing position with your b-boyfriend here. Do you wanna sw-witch?”

Tilting his head in order to see the way that Kurt was now straddling Lucas’ upper thigh, his front pressed to Lucas’ left hand side while Sam leaned across his back, Blaine’s leg then slung over Sam’s shoulder creating the jumble of bodies. Blaine’s tongue darted out to wet his lips and he cleared his throat harshly. “Lulu, forgive me if I’m wrong, but you’re straight.”

“Oh yeah,” Lucas muttered, a far away look in his eyes.

Kurt burst out laughing, feeling his arms shaking beneath his and Sam’s weight from where the blonde boy was leaning on his back. The shaking only increased until he went crashing to the mat, taking Lucas and Sam down in the process.

Bentley meanwhile watched his brothers and Sam start and finish their game in rather rapid succession, drawing his knees to his chest as his thumb hit the dial button and he fumbled to get the phone to his ear in time. Frowning, he rolled his eyes slightly and hummed under his breath as he waited for the person to answer.

* * *

 

Curled up in bed in Lima, both Burt and Carole groaned when the phone on their bedside table started to go off. Both of them blinking wearily, rubbing the sleep out of their eyes.

“It’s nearly four in the morning, who would be phoning now?” Carole grumbled, squinting at the figures glowing red on her bedside clock. “You get it,” She mumbled, her head flopping back onto the pillow.

“Why don’t you?” Burt whined, trying to bury his face under the pillow until he felt a sharp kick in his leg and could practically feel his wife’s eyes burning a hole in his back. “Yes dear, I’ve got it dear,” He muttered sarcastically, sitting up slowly and picking up the small object making such an incessant noise.

“Good,” Carole sighed, rolling back over.

Burt squinted at the number, shrugging when he saw that it was a number that he did not recognise. “Hello,” He yawned, his eyes and voice still heavy with sleep.

“Mr Burt, is that you?”

“Bentley?” He questioned in confusion, Carole sitting up beside him shooting him a worried glance. A grin spread across his face however when Bentley started talking. Beckoning Carole closer, he shifted the phone to his other ear and held it on his shoulder so that she could lean in and listen too.

“Mr Burt, Mr Burt, Kurt’s reeeeeaaaaaaalllllly cool and than-ank you for letting him make Blaine happy Mr Mr Burt.” The young boy slurred heavily, the alcohol evident in his voice as Carole bit her lip to fight back giggles and Burt simply shook his head, a grin etched on his features.

“What’s that in the background?” Carole whispered softly, Bentley’s rambling continued.

Burt screwed up his eyes slightly, tilting his head closer to the phone again. On closer inspection, he could hear the clear voices of Blaine and Sam belting out ‘Heroes’ but stopping on occasion to discuss whether Batman or Ironman would win a duel, while what was obviously Cooper slowly murdered ‘Like a Virgin’ into a very loud microphone. Glancing to Carole, he quirked an eyebrow and she laughed again.

* * *

 

Wandering down the stairs, Elijah groaned at the image of Cooper shrieking into a microphone while Austin and Pippin yelled that he was awful and threw sweets at him. Blaine and Sam had fashioned capes from tablecloths and were running round pretending to be Superman, while Jude and Kurt had crawled over to the chair that Noah was collapsed in and somehow managed to curl up with him on it. Elijah’s eyes then zeroed in on Bentley, his heart stopping when he saw the boy on the phone.

“Benny, who are you on the phone to? It’s like four am, give me that,” Elijah yelped, trying to grab the phone from Bentley’s strong grasp.

“Nuuh, im-important,” The younger brother insisted, guarding his phone with both hands and peering at Elijah.

“Benny,” He hissed, managing to grab the phone and cut the call, “Bed now. I’m sending the others up now too.” Bentley nodded standing and holding his hand out for his phone. Elijah sighed holding Bentley upright when he started to sway, “You can get it back in the morning, now bed.” Nodding glumly, Bentley started to climb the stairs, shooting Elijah dirty looks as he went.

* * *

 

Hearing a scuffle before the line went dead, both Burt and Carole let their laughter go, shaking their heads at the young boy who they had only met earlier that day. With a small sigh, Burt placed the phone back in his cradle, burrowing under the blankets and drawing his wife close once more.

“Checking on them first thing?” Carole yawned, chuckling softly.

“I think we’ll need to at least to make sure none of them have alcohol poisoning from the sounds of it,” Burt laughed, pressing a kiss to her forehead, “That should be interesting.”

* * *

 

“Right, bed time!” Elijah called, switching off the karaoke machine while Cooper continued to wail the Madonna track, Austin and Pippin simply looking at the young doctor like he’d gone nuts. “Now,” He ground out and instantly the two of them and Cooper were on their feet, sprinting for the stairs, tripping over occasionally on the way.

Grabbing the bottoms of Sam and Blaine’s capes when they ran by, Elijah grinned in satisfaction at the slight choking noise they made before pinging back towards him, landing on their backs. Gently, he pulled them both to their feet, “Sam, if you head up to bed now, you can sleep in your cape, but you’ve got to go now.” Sam nodded, his eyes wide with sleepiness and child like excitement as he instantly turned to stumble up the stairs. “Blaine, you’re helping me with your intoxicated boyfriend before you go anywhere kiddo.”

Blaine looked to where Kurt had somehow managed to roll onto the top of Jude and Noah, Jude drooling happily on Noah as they slumbered. “He’s m-mine.”

Elijah laughed softly, pulling Blaine close and pressing a kiss to his curls. “He sure is little Bee, just make sure that you always treat him right, okay?”

“Always,” Blaine murmured, his eyes never once leaving Kurt’s sleeping figure, an awe filled expression on his face.

Elijah just smiled at him, releasing his hold on his brother and moving to pick Kurt up in his arms, one arm around his back and the other tucked under his legs. Looking at the two remaining brothers, he shrugged figuring that their shouts of horror could wake the house in the morning. “Come on Blainey, let’s get you guys’ to bed, get the lights please?”

Blaine nodded running of to hit the lights of before turning back to Elijah once more, his eyes on Kurt. “B-be careful ‘Lija-jah.”

Elijah’s face softened and the love and worry on Blaine’s face as he watched Kurt closely. “I will be Blainey, I promise, now run ahead and get the doors yeah?”

Blaine nodded and was about to run from the top of the stairs when he suddenly turned back to Elijah once more, “Hey…’Liiiiiiijjjjjjah this is de bestest night evvvvvver.”

* * *

 

“Don’t you think ten may be a little early for this?” Carole murmured softly as she and Burt climbed the stairs to the Anderson front door.

Burt turned to her with a quirked eyebrow, pulling the front door key that Cooper had given him out of his jeans pocket. “After Benny woke us up at four, this is completely justified.”

Carole laughed, groaning slightly when the door swung open to reveal bottles, cans and red cups littering every surface in the foyer. Handing a bin bag to Burt, she smiled slightly, “If we wake them up before all this is cleared up we’re just going to have very sick boys’ to deal with, I can already imagine what the hangovers are going to be like from the state of this.”

* * *

 

Burt sighed slightly, “How about I clean this up while you get the supplies and wake the boys’ up? I think that might take a fair bit of time.”

“No kidding,” Carole chuckled, pressing a kiss to Burt’s lips before she jumped down the stairs to pull out the brown bags filled with every kind of breakfast food imaginable, along with sweets and plenty of aspirin.

Heading through the living room on her way to the kitchen, she spotted Jude and Noah still curled up together in the armchair, Noah sucking his thumb and Jude mumbling in his sleep. Smiling, she gently placed the bags on the table nearest and moved to crouch in front of them. Reaching out a hand, she pushed Jude’s curls away from his face, grinning when he grumbled and tried to swat her hand away.

“You would never think that they were fully grown men really, would you?” Burt muttered from the doorway and Carole turned to look at him, the grin still plastered across her face.

“They’ve always been fully grown, that’s the problem, they haven’t had parents who love and look after them, although that may be one of life’s great mysteries as to why these ten got such a rough deal.”

Moving to wrap his arms around his wife’s middle, Burt pressed a kiss to the crown of her head. “They always had each other and they’ve got us now.”

“True, I don’t think they would have survived separately,” The older adults laughed discreetly when Jude whimpered and Noah simply pulled him closer his brow furrowing intensely while he slept.

“The bottles are nearly cleaned up so why don’t you wake those two and start breakfast while I tackle everyone upstairs.”

Carole snorted delicately, “Good luck with that one honey.” Bending down, she went back to stroking Jude’s curls, murmuring softly to the pair as they gently started to shift and wake up.

* * *

Pushing Austin and Pippin towards the stairs where the smell of bacon was slowly winding it’s way towards the bedrooms, Burt shook his head fondly, watching the boys’ rub their foreheads and stumble as they attempted to make their way to where the food was waiting for them.

He braced himself before heading back into Reed’s room, frowning when he noticed that Reed had pulled the covers back over his head while Sebastian had tried to crawl underneath the bed to get away from the bright light pouring in from the curtains Burt had opened. “God you two are making this difficult,” He muttered, chuckling slightly, “Alright boys’ up and at ‘em!” Grabbing Reed’s duvet he ripped it from the teenager’s body, trying not to laugh out loud at the shriek of indignation and the grabby hands Reed made as he sat bolt upright, eyes still closed. Reaching down, he gripped Sebastian’s ankle and pulled him out from under the bed, Sebastian scrunching up his eyes, hands covering his face in the process.

Reed’s face lifted towards the door, sniffing the air, his eyes slowly fluttering open. “Is that bacon?”

“Sure is, but Aus and Pippin have just gone down so I’d go soon if you want some.”

Reed was out of bed like a shot before collapsing in the door with a whimper, one hand held to his head. Burt moved towards the boy with a soft laugh, rubbing one hand down his back, “ Next time don’t let your brothers make your drinks up bud. There are more fried foods and aspirin waiting for you downstairs.”

“Oh thank god,” Reed breathed, heading for the stairs at a slower pace this time.

Turning back to Sebastian, Burt’s forehead creased at the boy now lying on his back pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’m going to throw up,” The green-eyed Dalton boy moaned, eyes still screwed tightly shut.

Burt chuckled dryly, “That’s what happens when you have too much kid. Head to the bathroom and get sorted then meet us downstairs. Even if a fried breakfast isn’t your thing, there are pancakes, waffles and French toast. Or maybe just plain dry toast in your case.” Pulling Sebastian to his feet, Burt clapped him gently on the back and turned him in the direction of Reed’s bathroom.”

“Thanks,” He whispered, shuffling forwards slowly.

Burt shook his head again, “Right, time for Kurt and Blaine.”

Pushing open the door to Blaine’s room with a slight grimace, Burt peered his head carefully around the door before smirking and pushing the door open fully. Leaning against the doorframe he chuckled slightly at the two boys’ in the bed. Blaine was sprawled out on his back limbs spread out in all directions while his face tilted into Kurt’s hair. Kurt meanwhile was curled into a ball on Blaine’s left arm, face pressed into the crook of his neck, the only out of place limb being his own left arm which was sprawled across Blaine’s face, the curly haired boy snoring gently around it.

Stepping into the room, Burt’s smirk widened and he shut the door behind him. Watching Blaine shuffle in his sleep and roll onto his side, pulling Kurt closer to him, Burt snickered, a plan forming in his mind as Blaine started to talk in his sleep.

Clearing his throat, he crept towards Blaine’s side of the bed, bending low to his ear. “Blaine, Blaine,” Watching Blaine frown and try to swipe at his ear where Burt was whispering. “Anderson wake up!”

Blaine’s eyes instantly sprung open and he leapt from the bed, tearing away from Kurt as fast as he could, a ruby red blush staining his cheeks. Kurt meanwhile moaned and reached out to where Blaine had just sprung from, a whimper falling from his lips before he found Blaine’s pillow to clutch onto.

Glancing between his boyfriend and his boyfriend’s father, Blaine flushed brighter, his eyes wide with horror and his mouth started to open and close as he grasped at words that seemed beyond his reach. “I…erm…we….I mean…”

Blaine trailed off as Burt started to chuckle again, grabbing a t-shirt from the floor he threw it Blaine’s way, “Get Kurt up and put shirts on, there’s plenty of food to feed an army downstairs. Although with Finn and your brothers around god knows if it’ll actually last long.”

Watching Burt leave the room Blaine let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding and collapsed onto the bed again, putting his face in his hands. Feeling Kurt’s arms wind around his waist, Blaine sunk back into his hold, smiling at the feather light kisses Kurt placed on his lower back and cupping Kurt’s hands with his own.

“You’re a bastard for making me go through that you know?” Blaine smirked, watching Kurt’s head slink around his hip to rest on his thigh, stunning blue eyes staring up into his own wide eyes as Kurt’s whole body curled around Blaine. “God I love you,” The brown eyed boy whispered, bending low to capture Kurt’s lips with his own.

“I love you too,” Kurt whispered when they parted, a small smirk playing on his lips, “And honey? There was no way that I was going to admit to being awake. My Dad catching you in my bed after a party is one thing. My Dad catching both of us shirtless in yours after an even wilder night is another thing entirely.”

“Fair enough,” Blaine murmured, pressing his forehead to Kurt’s with a grin.

“Kurt, Blaine if you don’t get down here right now I will not hesitate to drag you down the stairs!” They heard Burt yell and both boys’ groaned, collapsing into each other with a laugh.

“Come on,” Kurt smiled, standing and pulling Blaine to his feet, “Let’s go spend the day eating junk food and watching films with our family.”

Blaine shot him a flash of his pearly whites and lifted Kurt’s hand to kiss the back of it. “So, how long until Burt and Carole bring up last night and want to know every detail and how drunk we all were?”

Kurt snorted softly, “Oh I wouldn’t worry about that. This nicey nice approach is sheer blackmail until they can turn everyone one against the other to find out what happened last night.”

“Do you actually remember much?” Blaine muttered looking slightly scared.

“No B, can’t say that I do really. I think I remember twister and an awful version of ‘Love Shack’ playing?”


	3. Doppelgänger

Blaine sighed softly grabbing the tub of raspberry gel to tame his curls as he walked down the hallway to the bathroom he shared with Bentley and Reed, glaring steadily at all of his brothers closed doors, undoubtedly they were all still sleeping while he was preparing to return back to McKinley in just a few hours. Smiling the boy answered a ‘good morning’ text from Kurt before beginning the labour filled task of plastering his curls into a helmet, refusing to give any bullies any ammunition or anything to pull on as they had once felt so inclined to do at his first high school.

“Hey Blainey, could you hurry up? I gotta pee!” Bentley yelled, fist pounding on the door, sleep still filling his voice as he yawned every other word.

Rolling his eyes, Blaine recapped his hair gel and swung open the door to meet Bentley’s horrified expression, his hazel eyes trained on Blaine’s hair. “What the hell happened to you?”

“Leave it Benny,” Blaine sighed, shrugging the arm off of his shoulder and trying to step away from his brother who seemed to guess his every move. “Bentley, move,” He growled, not in the mood to deal with his brother’s antics the morning that he was due back in school.

Bentley shook his head, reaching out a hand in wonder, retracting it quickly when it became coated in raspberry gel. “Oh god that’s disgusting,” He frowned slowly trying to stretch his fingers so that they didn’t stick together. “Did you use the full tub or something?”

“Close enough,” Blaine murmured, reaching up a hand to run through the curls he had become accustomed to over the winter break before removing it at the same speed as his twin, an almost identical look of disgust on his face. “I’ve got to get ready for school though. I need to leave soon, so I’ll see you tonight I guess?”

“Sure Blainey,” Bentley smiled sadly, disappearing into the bathroom. Listening as his brother’s footsteps faded down the hallway, the slightly older twin poked his head out of the bathroom, before racing away in the opposite direction, sliding to a stop next to the door covered in ‘keep out’ stickers.

Rolling his large hazel eyes behind his thick rimmed black glasses, Bentley pushed his way into Austin and Pippin’s room, groaning in disgust when he felt something crunch under his foot. Wriggling his toes, he peeled of his sock, nose scrunching in revulsion as he glanced to the broken dozen of eggs he had stepped on. “What the hell,” He muttered, shaking his head and throwing his sock onto the pile of dirty laundry the older twins were amassing in the centre of their room, it was no wonder really that the Anderson’s housekeeping staff could never wait to get rid of the two of them after holidays.

Stepping up to the bed closest, Bentley cringed slightly as he peeled back the comforter, breathing a slight sigh of relief when he noticed the mass of curls splayed out on the pillow, the last time he had attempted to wake Austin first he had wound up in the emergency room with a broken nose, not an experience he particularly wanted to relive. “Pippin,” He hissed, shaking his older brothers shoulder roughly.

“Mmmm, g’way,” The young man mumbled, his hand swatting through the air as Bentley squawked and jumped backwards throwing a dirty look at Pippin when he rolled over.

“Fine then if that’s how you’re going to play it,” He whispered, grinning and climbing up onto the bottom of Pippin’s bed, smirking across at Austin’s only a few metres away, “Perfect.” Clearing his throat, the second youngest brother started to jump up and down, bouncing closer to Pippin’s head, “WAKE UP WAKE UP, AUSTIN, PIPPIN, IT’S TIME TO WAKE UP,” He shrieked, jumping between the two beds as he sang, laughing as they tried to grab his legs. “WAKEY WAKEY RISE AND SHINE YOU’VE SLEPT THE WHOLE NIGHT THROUGH!” Beaming as Austin rolled onto his stomach and pulled his pillow over his head, Bentley leaned over and screeched down his ear, “GOOD MORNING, GOOOOOOOOOD MORNING YOU’VE SLEPT THE WHOLE NIGHT THROUGH. GOOD MORNING, GOOD MOOOOOOOORNING TO YOU! Now get up you lazy assholes,” He grinned bouncing onto the floor in between their beds panting as the older brothers glared at him through sleep filled eyes.

“Can we kill him now or later?” Austin muttered, green eyes narrowed in annoyance as he peered out from under his pillow.

Pippin seemed to consider it for a second, rolling his tongue bar between his lips slowly. “Now,” He yelled right as the two lunged for a shrieking Bentley who fell straight back into the dirty pile of clothes.

“Okay, that might be punishment enough,” Austin smirked, lying on his stomach peering over the edge of the bed at Bentley who truly looked about ready to throw up.

“Fair enough,” Pippin sniggered, standing and pulling the whimpering Bentley to his feet, “Now why oh why little hobbit did you wake us up at half six?”

Shuddering, Bentley glanced at his brothers’, “You two are freaking disgusting.”

“I think he just complimented us Aus.”

“Pretty sure he did Pip, now what did you want?”

“I’m worried about Blaine,” Bentley murmured quietly, nibbling nervously on his bottom lip.

Austin and Pippin glanced to each other, their expressions softening as Pippin wrapped an arm around Bentley’s shoulders and guided him to Austin’s bed where the older set of twins could surround him. “Why?” Austin murmured gently running a hand over Bentley’s curls and letting the boy rest his head on his shoulder.

Shrugging slightly Bentley sighed, “I mean it could be nothing but…”

The older brothers’ both laughed at that. “Benny, he’s your twin. We’re not even identical and I can still sense when Aus is in distress or needs me even when I’m stuck in Chicago and he’s across the other side of the country. It’s not a bond that you can break easily.”

Austin smiled softly at Pippin over Bentley’s head, “That’s not even to mention that we’re closer than your average brothers in general.” He gently nudged Bentley shoulder, “So what’s going on with our baby Blainers?”

“He’ll kill you for calling him that,” Bentley chuckled.

“Eh what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

Bentley laughed again, flopping backwards onto Austin’s bed and running his hands over his face. “I don’t know what it is really, just something doesn’t feel quite right. He was quite jumpy and pissy when I saw him in the corridor and have you seen what he does to his hair for school?” He watched as his older brothers’ shook their heads watching him inquisitively. “It’s like plastered to his head with gel!”

Austin and Pippin’s eyebrows shot into their hairlines before they were on their feet and out of the room like a pair of rockets, flying up the other end of the windy corridor to Blaine’s room and pounding fists on each door as they passed by them, drowsy curses from various brothers following them as they went. Bentley blinked in confusion before following them at a slower pace, smiling at Reed and Jude as they left their own rooms, faces thick with tiredness and voices muffled as he beckoned them to simply follow him up the corridor where the twins were now hovering in the doorway to Blaine’s room.

“Everyone ready to see this?” Pippin grinned, taking delight in Jude and Reed’s confusion as Reed simply scratched his head muttering curses under his breath. “Blaine we’re coming in!” He yelled before swinging the door open. Each of the brothers’ apart from Bentley felt their mouths drop in shock as Blaine emerged from his walk in closet, red polo shirt in one hand, his curls still glued to his head.

“Can I help you all?” He queried, pulling the polo shirt over his head as he watched them cautiously, Bentley bouncing into the room, collapsing onto the already made bed.

Reed nodded slightly, clearing his throat, “Yeah, first you can tell us when and how the hell our baby brother got abs like that?” The brothers’ all shot him incredulous looks, Jude shoving him roughly before joining Bentley on the bed. “Oh yeah and also, what the hell have you done to your curls? I mean jeeze Blaine there’s dapper and then there’s well that,” He muttered, waving a hand in Blaine’s general direction.

Blaine shrugged, “Keeps them out of my way.”

The brothers’ all looked at each other, Bentley shrugging with an ‘I told you so’ expression. Austin and Pippin’s gazes eventually returned to each other, the two of them having a silent conversation, Pippin playing with his tongue bar again while Austin flicked his lip ring giving his twin a slight nod which was reciprocated almost immediately.

“INTERVENTION!” They yelled, flying forwards and grabbing Blaine’s arms, shoving him onto his computer chair, Austin sitting on his lap while Pippin disappeared into the closet, the other three watching on enquiringly and trying not to laugh as Blaine struggled and yelled.

“Aha!” Pippin yelled a few moments later, returning to the room with four scarves, “These should hold you Blainers.” The twins made quick work of tying Blaine to the chair before stepping back and admiring their work. “Don’t try and undo those Blainers, Austin and I were kicked out of Boy Scouts for tying our leader up with our impressive knotting skills if you remember that far back,” Grinning he high fived Austin as Jude, Reed and Bentley all fell into step beside them, arms folded over their chests while they all stared at Blaine.

“More fool you lot, these are Kurt’s scarves. Now let me up so I can go to school,” Blaine muttered, a small grin playing on his features at the look of fear that passed over the brothers’ faces at the mere mention of the scarves being Kurt’s.

Reed took a slight step back, “I’ve already been in the firing line for accidentally getting nutella on one of Kurt’s scarves I’m not going through that again.” Holding his hands up, he glanced over the faces of each of his gathered siblings.

“I’ll take the fall for the scarves,” Jude sighed rolling his eyes. “If I could take Ollie’s bitch fits when I destroyed his ‘Batman’ pyjama bottoms I’m sure I can survive Kurt’s over a few scarves.”

“You survived Ollie after the destruction of his most prized pair of pyjama’s,” Blaine whispered in awe, all his struggling stopping momentarily, “Please let me know how you did that?”

Jude simply shrugged, “Maybe one day.”

“Not going to lie I’ve been on the receiving end of both Ollie and Kurt and I’m still going to say good luck Jude,” Reed grinned before turning his attention back to Blaine, trying to ignore Austin and Pippin whispering rapidly to each other in the corner of the room, Austin’s hand slapping across the back of Pippin’s head before resuming his furious whispering. “What’s going on with the helmet Blainers?”

“Nothing, and I’m going to be late if you goons don’t let me up!” Blaine growled slightly, trying to flex his arms against the scarves binding him to the chair.

“We’ve made an executive decision,” Pippin and Austin grinned, re-joining their brothers’ with identical smirks on their faces.

“Stop that,” Jude shivered before eyeing them curiously, “Now what was your plan?”

“We decided that we can implement something that we always wanted to do but couldn’t because sadly we are not identical,” Pippin snickered, Austin beaming as Blaine caught on, shaking his head rapidly and fighting harder against the scarves, “And Blaine if you tear those scarves Kurt will kill you, no?”

Blaine immediately stopped struggling with a glare. Austin beamed as he turned to look at Bentley, “Benny, how do you feel about joining the student body of one McKinley high school today? You can be our little recon guy and find out what exactly goes on at that stupid school because Kurt’s told us some damn horror stories from that place.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

“No, no way in hell, Benny you are my twin brother, you can’t do this to me,” Blaine whined, amber eyes flickering over each of his brothers.

* * *

 

Twenty minutes later Blaine was sat shaking his head in disbelief as Reed clipped the green suspenders onto Bentley’s pants, his twin pulling them up over his shoulders before evaluating his grey slacks and green checked shirt in the full length mirror. Slowly the older twin began to shake his own head. “No, something’s missing,” He frowned tilting his head as Blaine glared at him in his reflection, “What’s wrong with this Blainey?”

“The curls still aren’t gelled down yet, is that it?” Reed muttered slamming open Blaine’s cupboards and draws, as he hunted round the room. “Seriously Blaine, this would be so much easier if you’d just tell us where you put that damn hair gel, from how much you have slathered on you must have a stash somewhere.”

Blaine simply let out a huff, managing to swing the chair around so that he was avoiding looking at any of his brothers.

Austin rolled his eyes and went to twist the chair back round while Pippin was walking circles around Bentley, his face scrunched in confusion as he tried to figure out what was wrong with the outfit. All of a sudden, his emerald eyes quadrupled in size and he started to click his fingers rapidly, flying into Blaine’s wardrobe and throwing clothes out before he emerged triumphant, a bright green patterned bow tie in hand. Yanking Bentley towards him, he hummed softly as he tied it, grinning at his own genius when he stepped back.

“No! No way in hell!” Blaine yelled struggling against his restraints once more. “His bow ties not even straight! At least send him as me to school with some dignity.”

“Alright, alright, simmer down curly,” Austin sniggered, messing Blaine’s gelled hair up and dancing out of the way when Blaine lunged forwards to bite him. Sighing, Austin pulled Bentley towards him to try and salvage the mess of a bow tie that Pippin had made. “You know Pip with the fact that we’ve been going to ridiculous functions since we could walk and talk you would’ve learnt to tie a bow tie by this point, actually that goes double for you Benny.”

Jude and Blaine both burst out laughing while Bentley crossed his arms across his chest pouting and Pippin rolled his eyes with a small smirk. “That’s why they invented clip ons brother dearest.”

“Aha!” Reed yelled, drawing everyone’s attention as he sat back on the bed, clutching a tub of gel victoriously in his hand as he swung the bedside cabinet closed again, “Told you I’d find your stash Blainers.”

Jude sighed softly, pushing Bentley onto the corner of the bed and taking the tub from Reed. “This is never going to work, Benny’s curls are way more out of control than Blaine’s,” He mumbled, his eyes flickering over the instructions on the back of the tub.

“You’re not cutting them,” Bentley interrupted placing his hands protectively over his head.

“No I’m just going to have to use more gel.”

“Good thing I found Blaine’s supply then,” Reed grinned, pulling the bedside cabinet out further to show off at least fifty stacked up tubs of raspberry hair gel, throwing another three at Jude he snickered quietly, “That should hold it I would hope.”

“Let’s hope so,” Jude beamed, scooping a handful out of the tub.

Bentley let loose a shrill shriek fully able to wake the dead as he dove behind Pippin, “You can’t put that stuff near my hair it’ll never come out.”

Blaine simply smirked from where he was sat, “Yeah Benny it hurts and it takes forever to wash out.”

“You shut your mouth,” Pippin growled, pointing a finger at Blaine while the others tried to catch Bentley, footsteps pounding down the hallway.

“What the hell are you lot doing?” Cooper panted, bursting into the room with Elijah and Lucas following.

“Sending Bentley to school instead of Blaine,” Austin beamed as if it was the most normal plan in the world.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Cooper muttered under his breath as he left the room once more. Elijah simply glanced at each of their expressions trying to find anything that would let him know they were joking. Finding no signs, he shook his head with a sigh, “I don’t even…You know I just…I give up with you lot,” He sighed, slamming out of the room.

Lucas sniggered, “Best. Plan. Ever.” Shaking his head, laughter flowing freely from his lips, he turned to leave the room, “But stop shrieking yeah? Wake me up again and I’ll kill you and god knows what Noah will do to you if you wake him up.” Glancing to Blaine he grinned, high fiving Pippin on his way out of the room.

“You’re all a bunch of assholes!” Blaine yelped over the laughter flowing down the corridor.

“Got it!” Jude grinned triumphantly, Bentley sitting on his hands to resist the urge to tug his curls out from under the helmet of gel. “It’s more poofy than Blaine’s still but it’ll have to do.”

“I’ve got the directions to McKinley,” Reed yelled, sprinting back into the room waving round a piece of paper with a printout from Google maps excitedly.

“Ooh gimme,” Bentley grinned, snatching it from Reed’s grasp and studying it closely as Jude placed a little more gel on Bentley’s rebelling curls. Blaine frowned from where he was still being ignored before launching another tyrant of abuse that his brothers simply ignored.

Jude stepped back, nodding slightly as he recapped the gel, “Still not sure that I quite like this plan,” He frowned, eyes flickering over to meet Blaine’s pleading expression.

“Nonsense, someone’s got to look after Blainey,” Pippin smirked, pushing Jude out of the way to get to Bentley.

Austin beamed as he joined his twin, “Pip I feel like a proud parent,” He pretended to sob, wiping away a non-existent tear from under his eye as he grabbed one of the apples sat in a bowl on Blaine’s desk, placing it in Bentley’s hand. “You’d better get going kid or you’re going to be late.”

“Make us proud,” Pippin snivelled, sniggering as he pushed a laughing Bentley out of the bedroom door, handing him Blaine’s Range Rover keys as he left. “Scratch that and you can deal with Blaine though, you know it’s his baby,” He hollered to the retreating back of the second youngest Anderson.

Blaine was still yelling as Pippin walked back over to him. “Too late Blainey, now put a sock in it.” At Blaine’s next protest he jammed another apple into his mouth. “Now, you’re going to sit here and watch Disney films with your extremely lovable older brothers for the rest of the day and you’re going to like it. We’ll even start with ‘The Little Mermaid’ just for you.”

* * *

 

Pulling into the McKinley parking lot, Bentley chewed nervously on his bottom lip, eyes scanning the lot for a space that he was sure would mean he wouldn’t scratch Blaine’s car. Anxious eyes still evaluating the lot, he spotted Sam stood against the chain link fence surrounding the lot, tossing a chapstick up and down and surrounded by three very empty spaces. Grinning, Bentley pulled into the middle space and grabbed Blaine’s bag before hopping down from the Range Rover and heading to Sam who simply raised an eyebrow at him.

“Jude already rang to say you were coming today but nice impression of B,” He smirked, pounding Bentley’s fist when the usually curly haired brunette offered it. “So I am under instructions to keep you out of trouble, not that I know how that’s going to happen because Blaine’s in like all AP classes and I am not.”

Bentley sighed softly, “Knew they wouldn’t trust me to do this alone.”

Sam sniggered slightly, shaking his head so that his blonde locks flew around his face. “Nah, they just don’t want you messing up when B has to be back here everyday. I’ll walk you to your locker and point out your class schedule and the things you need to watch out for.” Tilting his head to the side, the taller boy eyed Bentley up and down before tugging on his elbow to get the pair moving, “I only really see one slight flaw in this plan of yours Benny.”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

Contemplating for a minute, Sam wrenched open the door to the school, ducking as a football soared towards his head. “I’ve heard you and B say time and time again that he’s the twin that can sing and you got like freaky genius weird math skills, right?”

“Yeah, why’s that an issue? And damn I don’t know how the hell he wears contacts all the time,” Bentley murmured, rubbing his irritated eyes while unlocking the locker that they now stood in front of with the code that he had found on Blaine’s desk.

Sam leaned onto the locker beside Blaine’s, one eyebrow rising up into his hairline. “Well Dude, A) Blaine’s math teacher always likes to put a big test on the day after a break, and B) Blaine has glee tonight. He’s kind of our leader so people are kind of going to notice if he all of a sudden can’t sing.”

Bentley squeaked slightly, wide amber eyes studying Sam before an easy grin slowly overtook his features. “Something I learnt from Austin and Pippin a long time ago is that what Blaine doesn’t know, can’t hurt him, which is why he still doesn’t know that it was me who dropped his bear into the lake when we were six.” Sam choked slightly, trying to cough to hide the laughter at the explanation as to why Blaine’s old teddy bear still smelled like pond water ten years after being rescued from a lake in Montana. “Besides, if all else fails hopefully a one hundred on his math test will calm him down.”

“Whatever you say, all I know is that I’m glad it’s not my head on the line Bro,” Sam smirked while Bentley slammed the ruby red locker and stalked off down the corridor, his blonde friend jogging to keep up, “If you do want to ace that test though, I’d turn and walk the other way. Oh and watch out for Tina, she’s in most of your classes.”

“Who’s Tina?” Bentley questioned, scrunching up his nose in confusion.

“Oh you’ll see,” Sam snickered, already eyeing the petite Asian girl storming up the corridor towards them, dirty looking Sam’s proximity to Bentley.

“Hi Blaine!” She trilled, appearing at his side.

Bentley yelped in shock, jumping closer to Sam as Tina sidled as close to him as she could. Pushing Bentley back into Tina, Sam bit his bottom lip hard to stop himself from laughing at the heart eyes Tina was shooting Bentley while he simply watched her with a slightly incredulous, slightly petrified expression. Unable to help himself, Sam let loose a burst of laughter, having to double himself up in order to breath while Tine slipped her arm through Bentley’s, the boy shuffling slightly uncomfortably at her side while both of them glared at Sam.

“I can’t, I just…” Sam took a deep breath, tears streaming from his eyes as he struggled to control his laughter. Shoulders shaking, he turned and ran up the corridor as soon as he spotted Artie.

Tina rolled her eyes, muttering under her breath about Sam’s immaturity and began dragging Bentley towards the classroom, a constant stream of chatter leaving her lips. Bentley tried to concentrate on what she was saying, but found himself blinking rapidly as he tried to keep up with the small girl while shooting the sniggering Sam a pleading look over his shoulder.

* * *

 

Seven hours later and Bentley was ready to tear his hair out. He missed his school in Washington, the one where teachers actually cared about their students education, where he was free to be himself without fear of persecution from fellow students, and most of all, where his girlfriend was there to stop him from being hit on. He hadn’t seen Sam since this morning and he’d only managed to snag a few minutes with Finn in his lunch hour, leaving him stuck with Tina and a girl named Marley who had been watching him with an undecipherable expression all day. Watching Tina almost run towards him once more, the short boy closed his eyes in frustration, he thought he’d given her the slip when he raced out of the English lit class they had just shared as fast as his small legs could carry him, but sadly she’d found him again, latching herself back onto his arm as she propelled them towards the glee club meeting. He genuinely had no idea how Blaine survived at this school on a daily basis.

“Screw this,” He muttered under his breath, eyes flickering around the rapidly emptying hallways with a smirk, “Benny’s coming out to play.” Managing to unlink his arm from Tina’s, he ignored her stunned expression as he started to bounce and skip down the corridor, almost soaring straight beyond the glee classroom, before spotting Marley watching him with an incredulous look and Sam and Finn doubled over with laughter in the corner.

“Well hello people,” He grinned, eliciting more laughter from Sam and Finn while the others all judged him carefully.

“Blaine, are you drunk?” Jake questioned, one hand clutching Marley’s tightly as he leaned forwards in his seat, eyes carefully surveying the manically grinning boy.

“Nooooooope,” Bentley chuckled, popping the ‘p’ for emphasis as Marley’s eyes lit up and her laughter joined Sam’s and Finn’s, the others looking confused still.

Tina rushed into the room, watching him with a worried expression, “Are you feeling alright?” Placing a hand on his head she frowned softly, “You’re not warm or anything.”

Dodging away from her, Bentley’s eyes widened. “I can’t take this anymore!” He yelled, stunning the whole room into silence apart from Finn and Sam who were now panting with the effort to remain breathing around their laughter. “You need to stop flirting with me!” He yelped, whirling round to point at Tina, “I’m gay with a boyfriend who loves me deeply. The only reason that a lot of you have come up to me today is to ask what song we should sing at Regionals or what this weeks glee assignment is going to be or if we should hold a school wide strike because the cafeteria keeps running out of tater tots. And you…” Turning his finger to point at Kitty, the blonde simply raised her eyebrows, her expression letting him know that she full well thought he’d lost it, “Stop telling me I need to go to some Cheerios practice, as far as I’m aware I quit that in December.” Catching Marley’s eye, he grinned at her, “Marley, I like you, please don’t change. Jesus though I don’t know how Blaine does this everyday!” Hands finding his hair, Bentley grunted in frustration and tugged some curls free from their gel prison.

“Score!” Sam yelled, jumping up and walking up to Bentley. Laughing, he wrapped one arm around his shoulder, patting his back comfortingly when the shorter boy ducked his head into Sam’s shoulder. “Finn you owe me ten bucks. Told you that it was glee when he’d crack totally and Benny,” Pushing Bentley back by his shoulders he sniggered softly at him, “Pretty sure that you’re straight and that you have a girlfriend, also there’s a bag with your own clothes and your glasses in sat next to Finn’s feet.”

Bentley ripped away from Sam, instantly going through the bag in order to replace his contacts, breathing a sigh of relief as he did so. Turning around he gulped when he noticed the horrified and confused expressions on everyone’s faces, only Finn and Marley showing him the hint of a smile.

“Okay, I’m confused,” Artie muttered, eyes flickering from Bentley to Sam and back again, “Anyone care to explain?”

“What happened to my little dolphin, Sam?” Brittany questioned, crossing the room to take his hand, her eyes cautiously watching Bentley as he approached them. Amber and azure eyes studied each other carefully before Brittany beamed and pulled Bentley into a tight hug, her chin hooking over his shoulder, “You’re not my dolphin, you just look like him.”

“Brittany?” Bentley guessed, wrapping his arms around the blonde as Sam nodded in affirmation. “You haven’t really talked to me today,” He smiled pulling away from her.

The blonde girl shrugged softly. “Blaine Warbler tutors me Tuesday through Thursday so I don’t really see him on Mondays or Fridays apart from in glee,” She smiled softly at him. “Will you tell him I miss him though? He didn’t speak to me much during the holidays, I wasn’t sure if maybe the aliens got him or something,” She frowned, her eyes flickering to the windows at the back of the choir room.

Wrapping his arm back around her waist, Bentley found his heart warming quickly to the blonde Cheerio when her head fell instinctively to his shoulder. “Nah Britt, we just keep him busy and in lots of trouble when we’re all around,” A thought flashing through his mind, he quickly opened Blaine’s satchel and pulled out a folder, “I think these are for you though, Blainey was working on them all holidays, they’re like worksheets or something.”

Brittany’s eyes lit up the moment she had her hands on the folder, flicking through the sub folders that were clearly marked to contain math sheets, English literature sheets and Spanish sheets among others. “Blaine promised me he’d get me to graduate this year,” She beamed, her eyes catching Bentley’s once more, “That’s why he tutors me, I like my Blaine Warbler, you better all treat him right.”

“We do, he’s the baby. Oh and if Blainey promised it Britt, he doesn’t break promises, like mostly ever, so you’re going to get through this year whether it kills the both of you or not.”

“Will someone please explain what the hell is going on?” Unique finally exploded, eight pairs of confused eyes staring at the two blondes and the short boy stood at the front of the room, Marley and Finn getting up to join them.

“Can I guess? Just I think I’ve actually figured it out,” Marley murmured, her voice low as she awaited Bentley’s approval. Seeing him nod, she grinned, placing herself to the side of him that Brittany hadn’t reattached herself too. “Then I’m going to guess that you’re Bentley, Blaine’s twin, am I right?”

“Got it in one,” Bentley laughed, tilting his head curiously, “But as far as I know Blaine had never told anyone here about his brothers.”

Marley held her hands up with a slight smile, “I didn’t know he had any other siblings. All I know is I heard him on the phone last semester and I quote ‘Bentley you’re my twin brother, when have I ever led you astray.’”

“Aah yes. For being gay Blaine sure as hell is the best one for getting me out of trouble with my girlfriend.” Looking up at all of the other surprised expressions he laughed softly, “All right kiddies gather round and I am going to tell you the story of Blaine Devon Anderson, youngest of ten brothers the unlucky bastard.”

* * *

 

By the end of glee club, Bentley had filled them all in on everything he knew, even showing them a picture of the ten brothers together when they hadn’t believed him, and of one of Blaine and Kurt asleep together on New Years Day to confirm that they were indeed back together. He beamed as they all started to file out the room, fist pounding Artie and Ryder and receiving a kiss on the cheek from Brittany as the others just smiled softly, their heads reeling with the news of Blaine’s family. Tina hung back, quietly apologising to Bentley and giving him a note to pass along to Blaine and Kurt before she fled the room.

When it was just Sam, Finn and Bentley left, the elder two couldn’t help their laughter from resuming, a perplexed Bentley simply blinking gently and shaking his head as they continued to chuckle.

“Benny you had one thing to do today and that was to keep out of trouble,” Finn grinned, shaking his head, “I thought you’d manage one day at least.”

“Yeah, no, that was never going to happen,” Bentley scoffed lightly, “I’m stunned that Blaine apparently keeps up his whole dapper put together image constantly if I’m totally honest.”

“Oh, oh I just had an idea!” Sam practically squealed digging in the bag that held Bentley’s actually clothes for the vial that held the contacts he had been wearing all day and the extra tub of hair gel that Blaine kept in his lockers for emergencies. “Here, put those back in and gel those curls of yours back down.”

“But Sammy, whhhhhhhhy?” Bentley whined, pouting at the boy he’d become rather fond of since first meeting him the previous summer, “All they do is itch and the gel just makes me dizzy with the scent of raspberries wafting round my head non stop.”

“Because we’re going to see Kurt,” Sam grinned, his eyes glinting, Finn laughing and leaving them to it so that he could plan the next few weeks of glee club lessons.

* * *

 

“Where are we?” Bentley frowned, scrunching his nose as Sam pulled up in front of a tire shop, “And don’t tell Blaine I let you drive his car, I don’t need to give him any more ammo to go for my head.”

“Bentley, you’re going to be like number one on his hit list anyways,” Sam smirked, quirking an eyebrow at him sceptically. “Possibly behind the twins, but I think he’ll be after you first.”

“Yeah I know,” The slightly younger boy sighed shaking his head, “But seriously, where are we?”

“ ‘Hummel tires and lube’, it’s Burt’s garage,” Sam smiled, tossing the car keys to Bentley and jumping down from the Range Rover. Frowning up at the grey sky, he quivered in the January air as large snow flakes slowly drifted down settling on the previously dry ground. Shivering, he tugged the hood of his red McKinley high sweater up and rounded the vehicle to meet Bentley, the pair walking up to the garage unhurriedly.

“Seriously, I thought Burt was a Congressman?” Bentley muttered, his eyes flickering over to meet Sam’s before attempting to glare at the snowflakes getting stuck on his long eyelashes.

“Well yeah, but this place was like his baby before even Kurt was born. Burt’s owned it for forever basically. He let’s us get away with murder in here too, as long as there’s no dangerous work going on at least. We practiced ‘Greased Lightning’ here before the school musical at the end of last year, he let us use one of the old bangers they were fixing up and everything,” Sam laughed, his mind wandering back to the rest of the guys from the garage just stood around laughing but cheering them on at the same time.

Bentley simply blinked rapidly shaking his head in disbelief, while knowing in his heart that it was exactly something that Burt would let them do. Smiling to himself, he found himself glad that Blaine had found himself this crazy out of control family to be a part of when the brothers’ themselves were sadly not present to look out for their baby brother. As trying as Bentley had found the day at McKinley, he could tell that at least the majority of the glee club had his twins best interests at heart and that they just seemed to gel together as a family despite being so different. Starting slightly and almost tripping over his own feet, Bentley shook of Sam’s questioning gaze as he let the realisation that somehow his brother had literally found himself a substitute family that seemed to mirror the brothers own relationships flooded his senses.

Heading straight through the open door to the garage, Bentley’s head whipped back and forth as he drank in the large space, Sam happily greeting many of the men he called his colleagues a few nights a week as he wandered through the garage. The blonde led them straight passed numerous cars, dodging sparks or men rolling around on boards when they shot out from under the many cars they were working on with a grin while Bentley jumped in shock, following closely behind his friend, confusion still flooding his features.

Tugging on Sam’s arm, Bentley frowned when he turned around to look at him. “I get that this is Burt’s place Sammy, but I thought that we were looking for Kurt?”

“Oh we are,” Sam smirked, pointing to a car with a body hunched over clearly working under the bonnet of a yellow Chevy Silverado, “Kurt just has issues whereby he refuses to work anywhere near the front of the shop. And I quote ‘I don’t need people to see me like this Sam, every moment is an opportunity for fashion until I’m being shoved in this hideous outfit.’”

Bentley’s forehead creased, his nose wrinkling in puzzlement. “I still don’t get it what out…” Bentley found himself cut off, his mouth dropping in shock when the figure turned around, using one of the cloths to wipe the sweat from his brow, grease streaked down one cheek yet his hair still somehow perfectly styled. “Kurt you’re a grease monkey!” Bentley squealed causing Kurt to raise an eyebrow and Sam to drop his head into his hands with a groan.

“And you’re Benny because Blaine would’ve known that,” Kurt smirked, grabbing the bottle of water sat by his feet while Bentley continued to watch him in awe. “Most importantly though, where is my boyfriend, why do you have his schoolbag and why are you dressed like him?” Adjusting his navy blue overalls, he quirked his eyebrow again and turned his full attention to the two teenagers in front of him.

“Oh you’re on your own,” Sam chuckled stepping backwards with his hands in the air while Bentley whined slightly. Tilting his head, Sam carefully surveyed the truck in front of him before breaking out in a grin, “Is that Azimio’s?”

Kurt’s smirk grew as he nodded, “Of course it is, it’s just my little revenge every time he’s in that I’m the one that gets to tell him what he screwed up and how much he owes this time. It also lets him know that I got out of this damn place and he’s stuck here for all eternity.”

Sam laughed, “Good, it serves him right, asshole deserves everything that he gets after what he did to you.”

Kurt shrugged slightly, “It’s just a little thing, but his face is pure priceless every single time.” Watching Sam nod, he turned back to Bentley who seemed determined to look anywhere but at Kurt, carefully studying the sign hanging on the back wall. “Bentley, where’s Blaine?”

Hazel eyes whipped round to meet Kurt’s, a sheepish expression crossing the younger boys’ face while he scratched the back of his neck nervously. “Possibly…Probably…More than likely…”

“Bentley!”

“Tied to his computer chair in his while the twins guard him under lock and key for the day.”

“You’re kidding,” Kurt deadpanned, Bentley blushing scarlet whilst Sam sniggered quietly. “Give me twenty minutes,” He sighed, shaking his head and grabbing Blaine’s car keys from Bentley’s hand before stalking into the back room for a shower and to get changed.

* * *

 

Jumping out of the car, Kurt didn’t give Sam and Bentley anytime to catch up with him before he was pounding on the Anderson’s large wooden front door. “Where is he?” Kurt growled the moment the twins swung the heavy door open. Automatically the pair jumped out of the way and pointed to the stairs, staring at Kurt as though steam may start pouring out of his seething features.

Shaking his head and muttering under his breath, Kurt pushed passed the twenty two year olds and ran up the stairs, heading directly to the quirkily decorated room that he knew best in the Anderson household.

“Blaine,” He cried out as he ran into the room, his boyfriend looking up at him with wide thankful eyes while Jude and Noah gulped and slunk back against one of the walls hoping to make themselves as invisible as possible and therefore avoid Kurt’s wrath.

“Kurt help me, please? My arms went dead hours ago and I really need to pee!” Blaine whined quietly, shooting a dirty look to his older brothers before turning pleading golden eyes onto his boyfriend’s.

“Oh honey, god help me I’m going to kill them for this stupid plan,” Kurt sighed walking closer to Blaine. “How the he…” Kurt broke off abruptly causing Blaine to frown at him, “Are those my limited edition Alexander McQueen scarves?”

Blaine nodded helplessly, Kurt’s livid expression souring further as he turned to scowl at Austin and Pippin now hovering in the doorway to Blaine’s room. “Oh you better run!” He screeched, flying after the older set of twins as they ran for their lives, a murderous glint streaking through his sapphire eyes.

“Umm Kurt? Anyone? God dammit will somebody untie me?”


	4. Leaving On A Jet Plane

Blaine sighed sadly, drawing his knees up to his chest and resting his chin on them, watching his brothers’ rush around the house while throwing things between them, each attempting to pack their suitcases at the last minute as per usual. Burrowing his face into his folded arms, he bit his lip sharply to suppress the tears he knew were inevitable, dreading the thought of being alone in the Anderson’s huge, somewhat scary mansion once more. Having his brothers’ back for the last four and a half weeks he had gotten so used to waking up to the sounds of the older twins fighting or Reed singing off key at the top of his lungs, and just in general having a loud, noisy, welcoming house to always return to when he went out. In a matter of hours though they would all be gone, off to various parts of the country for school and work, Kurt leaving on the same flight as Jude and Noah, unavoidably leaving Blaine with just the silence of the creaky old house. He was going to be all alone. Again.

Feeling a gentle hand run up and down his back, Blaine jumped in surprise, twisting his head around carefully to stare into Bentley’s sorrow filled golden eyes. The eyes identical to his own watched him closely, protectiveness shimmering in them as Bentley wrapped his arms instinctively around his twin, drawing him to his chest and humming softly under his breath.

Irrespective of what most people usually thought in regards to the youngest Anderson brothers’, Bentley had always been the quieter of the pair growing up, preferring to stand back and let Blaine do the talking for the two of them, especially where strangers and weird friends of their parents were involved. It had held it’s advantages for the elder twin over the years allowing him to become very adept at when Blaine was lying or hiding his true feelings to protect someone else.

“I’m alright Benny, just tired from last night, it was a late one and a stupidly early morning because you losers still haven’t packed,” He smiled weakly, pulling back slightly from the firm hold he was locked in.

Bentley shook his head resolutely with a frown. “You’re not okay Blainey,” He murmured, pulling his brother closer again to whisper in his ear, “I know that you’re not but just know that you’re not alone, you’re never alone. I am here whenever you need me any hour of the day, any day of the week. I love you. You’re my brother and my best friend and you always, always will be. Forever right Blainey Boo?” His arms were wrapped as tightly as he could get them around his brother, his heart breaking as he felt only fraction of what Blaine was feeling. The twins knew that they had always been more in sync than the rest of their brothers’ irrespective of whether that had been Blaine screaming in agony when Elijah had accidentally slammed a car door on Bentley’s ankle when they were eleven or the year before when Bentley had felt a searing white hot pain across his vision only to learn of the ‘slushy incident’ that had been happening in Lima the following day.

Blaine sniffled softly, nodding slightly as the tears started to leak from his eyes, “I love you too Benny Boo. I’m just going to miss you all so much.”

“I know,” Bentley muttered, pulling Blaine close and resting his head on top of Blaine’s curls. His eyes caught on Noah’s miserable ones when he glanced up to see all other action in the room had stopped, the older brothers’ staring at the babies of the family, a wave a sadness sweeping over their features.

“GROUP HUG!” Cooper yelled, all of the brothers’ piling onto the twins on their parents antique couch, Bentley hollering he couldn’t breathe while Blaine let out a squeak of laughter, each brother managing to ruffle his curls.

“Help, tiny person suffocating!” Bentley shrieked from under the throng of brothers’, Blaine’s laughter growing even as Elijah started to pull each of the older brothers’ off, leaving just the youngest two curled up together on the couch. Bentley gasped for breath while glaring at the older Anderson’s who were now looking at the babies of the family with fond expressions. An image of much younger brothers’ being infatuated with two tiny babies, with the same wild midnight black curls, snuggled up asleep in the same crib conjured itself in Cooper’s mind.

“Alright, leave Blaine to Benny, the rest of us still have shit loads more packing to do because somehow we’ve ended up practically buying the entire contents of Lima mall thanks to Kurt’s shopping trips.” Noah rolled his eyes with an affectionate smile, pushing Elijah towards the stairs as Jude ran after them.

“Got to say though, Ollie would be proud of you guys’ for doing it with minimal complaining,” He smirked, dodging his brothers’ glares while Elijah reached out to hit him over the back of the head. “I’ll have to let Ol know that you’re all more inclined to go shopping with him now whenever you’re in town.”

“Oh god, please don’t,” Lucas moaned, diving onto Jude’s back, “Shopping with Kurt was hell, and I’m pretty sure Ollie’s worse.”

“That’s improbable, if not impossible, now move it. There’s still plenty of work to be done and there’s only eight hours until Burt and the rest of the Hudson-Hummel’s arrive and we all leave,” Cooper sighed, ushering the brothers up the stairs. Jude smirked slightly, wrapping his arms around Lucas’s legs and taking the stairs at a sprint, his older brother yelling at him the whole way up before kissing the ground when Jude essentially dropped him at the top of the stairs with an eye roll.

“Why do we always leave packing ‘til last minute?” Reed groaned using the bannister to haul himself up the stairs even as he felt his legs protest thanks to the run that Blaine had dragged him out on early that morning.

“Because packing sucks!” Austin and Pippin hollered, overtaking him on the stairs and grabbing his ‘Lakers’ cap from his head, shooting up the steps to their room with an irate Reed on their fast on their heels.

* * *

 

Lounging on his stomach on Jude’s bed, the top forty blaring from the older brother’s speakers, Blaine kicked his legs in the air, watching Jude mutter to himself and dash around the room, grabbing the remaining bits and pieces that he’d need for New York. The younger brother rolled his eyes and started to laugh when Jude tripped over one of his suitcases, ending up face first in the carpet, attempting to glare at Blaine from where he was lying.

“Not funny Bam Bam, not funny at all,” Jude moaned, righting himself and crawling over to lean against the end of the bed where Blaine’s head was, swiping one of the chocolates he had from the packet beside him.

“Wow,” Blaine blinked, his giggles only fading slightly, “It’s been a long time since you called me Bam Bam, Twinkle.”

“No kidding. I always thought Dad was going to flip that time when you slipped up and called me Twinkle in front of him, you were only three at the time from what I remember.”

Blaine gulped slightly, trying to block one of his earliest memories out of his mind, the one of his Father screaming at his tiny frame while Jude and Lucas looked on helplessly, still only young children themselves. Sighing, he leaned his head back down so that it was right next to Jude’s, “Yeah, that got pretty scary for a while. I still can’t understand how Cooper managed to drill into a two year old not to call you Twinkle Toes around Dad though. I mean I don’t think I called you Jude anytime between the ages of two and seven, you were always the dancer, my Twinkle Toes,” Cocking his head to the side, Blaine smiled slightly, “Or my Juju, but that was never as fun.”

Jude chuckled lightly, reaching over to ruffle Blaine’s curls, “Looking back on it Bam Bam, I think Cooper probably always knew on some level that we were gay, and he knew how Dad would react all along too I guess. Getting you to stick to Juju when they were around was simply his way of protecting us and making sure that I could keep dancing without them knowing. Coop’s never been as dumb as he makes out really.” Jude wrinkled his nose slightly, eyes dancing with laughter as they bore into Blaine’s, “I never got over the fact that you could freaking say Twinkle Toes but you couldn’t ever say Jude. I mean really Blaine, really?”

“Hey, d is a very hard letter to say Juju.”

“I’m assuming you have no problem using it around Kurt now though,” Jude smirked watching the blush rise in Blaine’s face as he buried it in the bedspread.

“Oh my god,” He muttered, grabbing the pillow from behind his feet and whacking it over Jude’s head.

“Alright, alright, truce, truce!” Jude yelled, stopping Blaine when the pillow hit him again and tackling his cackling younger brother backwards onto the bed from where he was now standing. Pulling Blaine into a tight hug, the elder Anderson pushed them both up the bed until they were leaning against the headboard and grabbed the bowl of popcorn from the floor, placing it between them. “I have a proposition for you Bam Bam.”

Blaine’s curious hazel eyes searched Jude’s confident emerald ones in confusion. Swallowing a mouthful of popcorn with some difficulty, Blaine nodded slightly, “What’s up Juju?”

“I just… Kurt’s coming back to New York tonight with me too, right?”

Blaine winced heavily, feeling as though he had been punched in the gut, “Yeah. Thanks for reminding me of that though,” He muttered bitterly tearing his eyes away from Jude’s.

Jude chewed his bottom lip nervously, reaching out to squeeze Blaine’s knee gently even as the teenager’s head fell to his shoulder. “How about you come too? I mean Ol and I have a spare room and god knows with your grades we’d probably find a high school that would take you no bother even this late in your senior year.”

Blaine’s head shot up to stare at Jude, his eyes wide with shock and his mouth stuttering nonsense while his brain tried to grasp what his older brother had just said. “Jude,” He eventually managed to breathe out, the shock of his brother’s suggestion still etched into his features.

Jude smiled softly, “It’s a genuine offer B. I even talked about it with Ollie at lengths, he’d be happy to have you there and it would be amazing having you permanently in the same state for the first time since I was fourteen.”

Blaine blinked back tears, his eyes studying Jude carefully, “Jude I…” Taking a deep breath, he smiled sadly at Jude, “Jude, I’d love to…but you and I both know that I can’t.”

Jude’s face fell, “Why not Bam Bam? It’s not like I’m strapped for cash or anything, and you’d be close to Kurt, and you know that Ollie adores you.”

“I know that Jude, I do really,” Grinning, Blaine shuffled forwards, taking Jude’s hands in his, “And it is going to hurt so god damn much knowing that you’re all gone again.” Cutting Jude off with a glare when the older boy tried to interrupt, Blaine grinned softly again. “You’ve protected me so much in my life Jude, and me staying in Lima, at least until the summer, this is my way of protecting you.”

“I don’t follow.”

Blaine smiled sadly at Jude, making sure to catch his eye again. “If I came to live with you and Ol do you really think that Father would let me go easily? I don’t care about the man and he doesn’t care about me, I’ve known that since I was eight Jude. What I do however care about is you. I will not let that man tear you and your relationship with Ollie and your love for dance down because he doesn’t believe in it. You and Ollie are both so important to me, and I am not going to put the two of you at risk for my own selfish reasons, and even if we didn’t tell him, he’d find out somehow, it always happens with me.” Shrugging slightly, Blaine beamed once more, “Besides, Sam needs me so I’m not going to leave him alone either.”

Jude laughed shakily, swiping tears from his face, “You’re one of a kind Blaine, you know that right?”

“I’d agree apart from the fact that I have a carbon copy three doors down blasting ‘Britney Spears’ for the world to know about,” Blaine muttered dryly, pulling Jude in for a tight hug. “I’m going to miss you, you know?”

“I’ll miss you too B, so much,” Jude smiled, tugging his younger brother closer. “Stupid sperm donor messing everything up.” Blaine snorted at the nickname that the brothers’ had coined for their Father long ago, the man often being nothing less than an absent empty figure in their life. “Just know that the offer will always stand, whenever you need it, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Good, now go help Bentley because if he’s ready on time it might be a minor miracle. Not to mention I’m going to tear my hair out if I hear one more ‘Britney’ song or if there’s another crash from that room because he’s attempting to dance again.”

“On it,” Blaine laughed, grabbing the bowl of popcorn and sauntering out of the room.

* * *

 

“Alright, everybody out!” Burt yelled, sliding open the door to the ten seat hired minivan to release his many passengers as Blaine pulled up with another full car beside him.

Rolling his eyes at the brothers’ leaping and jumping from the minivan before racing around the parking lot to collect luggage trolleys, Kurt rounded Blaine’s Range Rover and took hold of the boys’ hand, lifting it to his lips and smiling reassuringly when he felt golden eyes turn his way. “How are you doing B?”

Blaine shrugged, leaning against Kurt heavily, “I’ll be alright Kurt, I’m just going to miss them all, and you.”

“I’ll miss you too B, but you’re coming to visit soon, either that or I’ll come back here and drag you with me to New York kicking and screaming.”

Blaine laughed, watching with interest as Austin, Pippin and Bentley reclaimed Noah and Elijah’s luggage trolley for themselves, “Well that can only end badly,” He muttered, surveying Bentley dive out of the way with a yelp when Pippin’s rucksack nearly hit him in the head. Kurt turned to where Blaine was staring and letting loose a laugh, tugging his boyfriend closer. “Besides Kurt, if anything you’ll get have to get sick of me and kick me out of New York.”

“Oh Honey, I could never get sick of you.” Kurt grinned, tugging on Blaine’s hand to make him follow the rest of their mismatched family into the warmth of the airport.

* * *

 

“Forwards slaves!” Bentley cried, leaping onto the luggage occupying the trolley that Austin and Pippin were leaning on and making himself comfortable.

The twins looked at each other, eyebrows rising and smirks forming over their faces. “Oh we’ll give you forwards alright Benny,” Austin muttered as the shorter boy turned to look at them with wide eyes, gulping loudly as the older twins both grabbed the trolley handle.

Bentley let loose a scream to wake to dead his hands flying out to grab the edges of the luggage that he was sitting on as the twins took off, their years of being on various track teams marred only slightly by the uncooperative trolley wheels. Turning a corner too enthusiastically, Bentley and the luggage were sent sprawling to the floor, the curly haired teen sliding across the recently buffed tiles and spinning in a circle so that when he cracked his eye open again he was staring up at the older brothers’ watching him in shock.

Eyes opening fully, Bentley grinned as a mischievous twinkle found its’ way into his golden orbs. “That was totally awesome! Let’s go again!”

Eagerly, the three brothers’ leapt to the task of replacing the luggage on the trolley; fighting over whose turn it was to ride when a throat cleared behind them. Schooling their faces into pictures of innocence, the three turned to see Burt, Cooper and Elijah each watching them with unimpressed expressions, Noah stood a behind them his face flickering as he tried to contain laughter.

“Can we help you?” Bentley asked, smiling sweetly.

“Funnily enough, you can,” Cooper growled, reaching out to grab Austin’s collar while Burt grabbed Pippin and Elijah took hold of Bentley, Noah rolling his eyes when he realised that he was being left to deal with their trolley. “You can stop creating absolute and utter havoc in the airport and stay here with the bags and everyone else while we go figure out where everyone’s luggage needs to go and when we have to board.”

“Well that’s not as much fun,” Pippin muttered bitterly, huffing and crossing his arms across his chest while pouting at the three men walking away.

Noah smirked slightly as he walked up to them, making sure that the three had well and truly disappeared and that Carole was busy talking to Jude and Sam before dumping the trolley in front of the three brothers’. “I didn’t see anything, now take it and go, just try and stay out of trouble.”

Three pairs of playfully sparkling eyes turned on Noah as the boys’ squeezed their older brother in a tight hug before Pippin was jumping on the trolley and they were flying off in the opposite direction to that of which Cooper had disappeared to. Shaking his head, Noah whistled softly and went to join in the conversation with Carole.

* * *

 

“What’s Sebastian doing here?” Kurt whispered quietly, watching Reed creep away from his brothers’ to the solitary figure stood close by, his own arms wrapping tightly around Blaine’s waist.

The younger teen followed his eye line with a soft smile as he watched Reed pull Sebastian in for a tight hug, muttering rapidly before tugging him closer to where the rest of the family had gathered. “Something tells me he and Reed have a lot left to say to each other.”

“You don’t think?” Kurt questioned, pulling back from Blaine slightly with a raised eyebrow, “I mean there’s just…”

Blaine shrugged pulling Kurt closer with a feeble whine and burying his head in the crook of his neck again, determined to memorise his boyfriend’s scent before he walked out of his life for potentially another couple of months. “I don’t know Kurt. Anything’s possible. The fact that I found you in Ohio of all places proves that to me. Reed and Seb have been growing closer since the summer pool party, I think that they text quite a bit, but I really don’t know, unless they want meddled in or deserve it because the other person is a dick or a bimbo I try to stay out of my brothers’ relationships.” Kurt laughed softly, glancing around the airport quickly to make sure that no one was staring at the duo before kissing Blaine’s temple tenderly, grinning at the sigh of contentment from the shorter of the pair. “As far as any of us are aware he’s only ever had girlfriend’s but the longest of those was Lauren and that was only three months long, two years ago so who knows?”

“Fair enough,” Kurt mumbled, resting his head on top of Blaine’s lightly gelled curls watching Reed and Sebastian laughing about something with curious eyes.

“Blainey you’ve got to come join us! These idiots think that they’re faster than we’d be. I’m calling bullshit,” Bentley grinned, screeching his trolley to a halt next to the entwined boys’ with a chuckle, Austin, Lucas and Noah close behind him.

Blaine shook his head, feeling tears building in his eyes as he burrowed his face deeper into Kurt’s neck. The older teen ran a hand gently down Blaine’s back, jumping slightly when a notice rang out through the airport letting passengers know that the gate for the New York flight was now open. Red hot tears started to soak into his neck and shirt collar and he looked down at Blaine in alarm, drawing him closer as more of the brothers’ started to surround the pair worrying as they watched Blaine begin to tremble slightly.

Burt sighed sadly having watched the entire exchange. “Alright boys’ lets give them some privacy,” Burt smiled rounding up the older Anderson brothers’ and herding them away from the young couple winking conspiratorially at Kurt even while the brothers’ protested, Blaine letting out a choked laugh as he caught Burt’s eyes with a gloomy smile. Grabbing Austin by the collar when he tried to head back towards the couple, Burt shook his head vehemently, “Nope, nuuh, leave them Aus. Kurt can take care of Blaine, I promise you. We need to get all of your luggage checked in anyway, thank god Blaine made you all actually check in online last night or this could’ve been more of a nightmare.”

No longer caring if anyone in the airport was watching them, Kurt pulled back and cupped Blaine’s face in his hands, kissing every inch of his face, including his eyelids when they fluttered gently closed. “You’re mine you know,” Kurt smiled pulling a little further back, linking their fingers tightly and swinging their hands from side to side between them, “Mine, mine, mine.” Letting his own eyes flicker closed, he leaned his forehead onto Blaine’s.

“Always,” Blaine whispered, his eyes red rimmed. “God Kurt, always, promise?”

Hearing the shaky tremble to Blaine’s voice, Kurt wrenched his eyes back open, chuckling dryly. “Blaine Devon Anderson. Don’t you know by this point?” Seeing the confusion flicker across the golden eyes he had studied for years Kurt beamed, yanking Blaine close to him and wrapping one hand around his waist, the other stroking his cheek gently, Kurt let his lips brush against Blaine’s. “Baby, it’s always been you, it always will be.” Letting the words ghost over Blaine’s lips, Kurt grinned at the shudder that rippled through his boyfriend before drawing him closer, sealing their lips together as their tongues explored each other’s mouths, lost in a familiar battle for dominance.

* * *

 

Sebastian let out a low whistle, “Damn, who knew Gay Cyclops and Old Betty White could be so hot?”

Sam smirked, tilting his head and pulling a face when Blaine’s hands travelled further down Kurt’s back, “Well clearly you haven’t paid them much attention when they’re actually together, although this in public thing is new. Burt and Carole went to check bags with the others and get coffee, yeah?”

Sebastian nodded, eyebrow rising when Kurt bit Blaine’s lip gently, “Damn boys’,” He muttered, pulling out his phone and setting the camera on them.

“Not sure if that’s creepy or just weird dude,” Sam frowned appraising Sebastian quietly.

“Blackmail material or pure and simply embarrassing stuff for their future wedding. I can’t decide which yet.”

The blonde boy nodded, “Can I get a copy of that?”

“Five bucks.”

“Deal.”

“Oh gross, I don’t want to see that Bash,” Reed wrinkled his nose, trying to look anywhere but at his baby brother and his boyfriend, “I mean just ewwie.”

“It’s still hot though,” Sebastian smirked, “Jeez do they just not need air?”

Blonde locks flying, Sam shook his head with a bemused grin, “Nope, I’ve sadly been witness to them going at this for hours. The price you pay for having to walk passed Kurt’s bedroom door to get to the bathroom or the kitchen and Burt has an ‘open doors’ policy.”

“Lalalalalala, I can’t hear you,” Reed sang, jamming his fingers in his ears.

“Reedy, give it up,” Sebastian chuckled, snatching his ‘Lakers’ hat and placing it on his own head backwards with the hand that wasn’t already occupied with his phone.

“Baaaash,” Reed whined, a goofy smile on his face as he made no attempt to get the hat back, simply rolling his eyes at his friend, oblivious to Sam’s confused glance.

“What happened to keeping it PG around us?” Elijah groaned, burying his head in his hands, “That right there, that has skyrocketed straight passed PG.”

“Oh we’re heading for R rated stuff here,” Sebastian laughed, the two boys’ seemingly oblivious both to their surroundings and the incredulous brothers’ and friends’.

“No, nuuh, nope, not in front of me. I don’t want to see my little brother sucking face, can we not just go back to kissing is icky? I miss that Blaine,” Lucas whined, advancing towards them, Noah close behind while Jude simply sat back against one of the rucksacks with a yawn, reburying his face in his book to try and avoid the fireworks about to explode.

Austin and Pippin glanced at each other uneasily, their heads tilting and eyes rolling in silent conversation before both of them nodded, running after their older brothers’.

“Nope, not today boys’, let them be,” Pippin crowed, managing to grab Lucas and haul him away from Blaine and Kurt with a grin, “Man Luc you really are small, still not as small as Blainers or Benny but that would be near on impossible.”

Austin meanwhile was tugging on Noah’s arm, Bentley stepping up to pull the other arm, “Leave them to suck face. They don’t get to see each other for a while, it’s only fair, and the rest of us are going back to boyfriends’ and girlfriends’. Let them have this.”

Relenting, Noah’s face softened considerably when he glanced back to the pair, Blaine’s head now resting on Kurt’s chest, his cheeks tinged pink and breathing heavily, but looking the happiest he had all day as Kurt smiled tenderly, brushing a lock of Blaine’s hair out of his eyes and pressing his lips to Blaine’s forehead lovingly before simply cuddling the boy close.

“Seriously, leave them be,” Cooper muttered as everyone but the couple re-joined the pile of bags that the leavers had accumulated in the middle of the almost deserted airport. The oldest brother looked up for where he was sitting tapping out a tune on Elijah’s wheel along briefcase, headphones jammed in his ears and an eyebrow raised, “This is hard as hell for them and they just need a little time to themselves. Follow Jude’s example if you’re bored,” He laughed, nodding to where the green eyed man was still lounging amongst the rucksacks and various pieces of hand luggage, book in one hand, his intense gaze never leaving the page.

Tilting his head, Bentley studied the plain black cover with confusion, “Whatcha reading Jude?”

The green eyed man glanced up momentarily, “’The Fault In Our Stars.’”

“Oh hell no,” The second youngest Anderson groaned. “Blainey phoned me for a week straight sobbing after he finished that damn thing.”

“Just because you wouldn’t know a good book if it hit you in the face,” Jude mumbled, not even bothering to look at Bentley as he flicked over the page, the other brothers’ laughing at Bentley’s indignant look.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Lucas frowned, realisation suddenly dawning on him, “Is that why I had undecipherable answer phone messages from Blaine like every day for a week and a bit last September.”

“More than likely.”

Lucas groaned softly, “Jude when you finish that just remember that Blaine’s your favourite brother and also that Cooper and Austin love you dearly.”

“Dude, not cool,” Austin breathed out.

“Time differences Luc!” Cooper squawked knowing full well that Jude was likely to finish the book in the middle of the night by the west coast brothers’ standards.

“Exactly.”

* * *

 

“I love you Kurt, so much.”

“I know Blaine, I know. I love you too,” Kurt breathed out slowly, thankful that he had Blaine at the airport with him this time yet petrified that it could potentially break the fragile boy. “This time, we do it better, so much better. I promise that I will always pick up your phone calls, no matter what I’m doing, if I need to leave a meeting or a class then so be it, and we skype at a minimum every three days. I don’t care how busy either of us are.”

Blaine nodded emphatically, “A million times yes. I promise that I will come to you as soon as I freak out about anything, or anything feels wrong, better communication that’s what we need.”

“Yeah,” Kurt whispered, pulling his curly haired boyfriend close and breathing in the scent that was so inherently Blaine once more, mint, raspberry and coffee, the smell that let him know he was home. “I’m going to miss you like hell B.”

Blaine sighed softly, “Only a little while to go then I’ll hopefully be right there in New York with you, we can do this mio bella, we can.”

Kurt nodded against Blaine’s forehead, “Of course we can, and we’re stronger for our past now Blaine. As hard as that may be to admit it’s the truth, mon trésor.” Sighing softly, Kurt pecked Blaine’s cheek and drew away, grasping the boy’s hand tightly in his own. “Now come on, there are other people than me who need to say goodbye to you today.”

Joining the growing group in the centre of the airport, the couple rolled their eyes and smiled graciously at the catcalls they received, thanking god silently that the brothers’ saw sense to shut up as Burt and Carole returned.

A public announcement ringing out from the loudspeakers around the room had the gathered mismatched family wincing, announcing the boarding gates for flights to Seattle, Chicago and Los Angeles were now available and requesting that passengers of the New York flight proceed quickly to security. “All right then, this is it I guess boys’,” Burt smiled softly, Carole’s arms already wrapping around Elijah and Reed in a loving, goodbye embrace. The brothers’ flocked around the pair that had become like the closest things to parents’ that they had ever experienced, leaving Kurt and Blaine a few more moments together.

Turning to look at Blaine, Jude sighed softly, the announcement still ringing through the airport for a second time. His eyes flickered between Kurt, Noah and Blaine, taking in the unhappy smiles on each face, “That’s us Bam Bam.”

Blaine nodded, blinking rapidly in an effort to get rid of the tears building up.

Shaking his head and trying to hold back his own flood of emotions, Noah stepped forwards and yanked Blaine into his arms, holding him tightly. “I love you kiddo. If you need me anytime of the day or night you ring me, yeah?” Feeling Blaine nod gently against his chest made Noah’s sad smile grow only slightly. “Besides that I have like an almost two hour drive from JFKto New Haven so I will be needing some entertaining in a few hours, we all know how short my attention span is.”

Laughing, Blaine pulled back, his eyes twinkling slightly, “The attention span of a goldfish.”

“Don’t you know it,” Noah grinned slightly bemused, “Why they let me make up prescriptions I’ll never know.”

“Because you’re good at it?” Blaine chuckled, rolling his eyes quickly before hugging Noah once more, “Love you too Noah.”

Feeling himself be pulled away from Noah, Blaine squeaked as he caught the familiar scent of Lucas’ cologne. “Stop hogging Blainers Noah, I’m way cooler and way more important than you,” The slightly younger brother smirked, sticking his tongue out at the blue eyed man only to receive the finger in return, Blaine sniggering lightly against Lucas’ chest. “You better call me all the time I hope you know. I need someone to discuss and geek out with Doctor Who over.”

“Oh that’s a must,” Blaine laughed, “Rose and Ten still rule all though all of your other viewpoints are invalid.”

“Not sure I still liked Donna and you’ve got to admit Amy was pretty awesome.”

Blaine scoffed, squeezing Lucas tight only releasing him when he felt arms wrap around his shoulders from behind, Elijah burying his face in the crook of his neck. “You’re my baby brother Blainey,” He murmured, his own tears streaming from his eyes, “I’m so sorry I haven’t been there for to protect you all these stupid times.”

Turning around and pulling Elijah into his arms rubbing a hand up and down his back Blaine chuckled softly. “Lij, you’ve always been there for me, always.” He laughed when Elijah wriggled in his arms, simply holding him closer. “You always will be, I have no doubt in that. I love you Lij.”

“Love you too Blainey,” Elijah whispered, falling into Noah’s arms when he opened them, the blue eyed man shaking his head chuckling soundlessly while he tried to calm his older brother down, catching Blaine’s eyes and pulling a face to make the curly haired boy laugh.

Shaking his head at his older brothers’, Blaine spied Reed stood on his own for the first time since the older boy had spotted Sebastian in the airport and immediately made a beeline for him. When he reached Reed, he managed to throw his arms around the nineteen year olds shoulders, smirking when he jumped. “Hiya Reed!”

Chuckling, Reed reached up to grab Blaine’s hands where they met at the base of his neck, “Hi Blaine.”

Swinging himself round to stand in front of his brother, Blaine let his eyes roam up and down him. “I just thought I’d come and say see you later real quick so you can spend some more time with Seb.” The younger brother stepped back as Reed started to scramble for words, his body rigid and face pale.

“Oh no, Blaine, Bash is just a…erm he’s…we’re just friends.”

“Reed do you love me any less for being gay?” Blaine frowned, his eyes searching Reed’s horrified ones.

“Of course not, how could you even suggest that?”

“Then what makes you think that anyone would ever love you any less for it? Whether you like girls’ or boys’ doesn’t make a difference to me Reed, you’re still my big brother. You’re still you, that doesn’t change just because you’re confused or because of anything else, we may have issues if you suddenly turn around and tell me you don’t like Disney or something like that but otherwise nope you’re still you.” Blaine smirked slightly, “You’re still the only one I trust to get rid of the monsters in the closet.”

Reed laughed, shaking his head, “When did you get so wise?”

“I have always been the smartest brother dearest it’s just taken you this long to catch up.”

Smirking, Reed wrapped his arms around Blaine, “Uh-huh, sure. Bash is still just a friend Blaine, a good friend but yeah. Oh and the smartest one yeah? Who was it that ran into a glass door?”

Wriggling out of his arms, Blaine shot a dirty look at Reed, “You promised that you would never bring that up again and I was four!”

“Still ran into a glass door,” Reed sing songed, dancing away from Blaine back to Sebastian and Sam.

Austin and Pippin looked at each other quickly, smirking before surging forwards, diving on Blaine and effectively pinning him to the ground pressing sloppy kisses to his forehead and cheeks as he squealed and laughed beneath them. “We love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you!” They crowed, Blaine still wriggling and shrieking underneath them.

“Okay you two, let Blaine breathe,” Cooper snickered, hauling the twins off of Blaine while Bentley pulled him to his feet and helped him dust off his shirt. Cooper glanced to the younger twins and Kurt, watching them crack up with laughter before turning back to Austin and Pippin, noting how close they were stood. “You two have your own goodbyes to say to each other, so if you want to head through security now everyone will understand.” The twins looked at each other, nodding wearily before collecting their hand luggage. Cooper sighed softly, hugging Pippin tight and squeezing Austin’s shoulder, “See that Pip gets to the right boarding gate and I’ll meet you just at the other side of security right Aus?”

Austin nodded, grabbing his red rucksack and heaving it onto his back as Pippin grabbed his wheel along backpack, hugging the brothers he wouldn’t see for a few more months once more.

“Austin,” Cooper called out just as the boys’ started to walk away. “I do not want a call saying that you’ve somehow sneaked onto a flight to Chicago, you better be waiting for me back there you have college on Monday morning.”

The twins grinned mischievously at each other before saluting their older brother and running towards security, pushing and elbowing at each other as they went, leaving many eye rolls in their wake.

“It’s going to be damn quiet around here without them,” Sam blinked, watching Austin almost shove Pippin over a barrier before doubling over with laughter, security watching them closely as they joined the queue.

Cooper smirked once more, shaking his head as he clasped a hand around Blaine’s shoulder, hazel eyes turning to look at him. Guiding Blaine slightly away from the group, Cooper hugged him tightly before pulling away and placing his hands on his little brothers’ shoulders. “I expect a phone call every night before you go to bed without fail Squirt,” Blaine nodded vigorously, his curls flying free from the slight gel hold. “Alright, you phone me first when anything happens or if you need permission for any school trips or anything, I’ll fax across the written permission, same as always. This time though, I swear to god Squirt if I get a phone call from a hospital to say that you’ve been admitted I will personally fly back here and kill you myself, capiche?”

“Capiche,” Blaine laughed, lunging forwards to wrap his arms around his brother tightly. Cooper chuckled, an image of a four year old Blaine repeating the same phrase to his seventeen year old self when he was teaching him something he wasn’t supposed to do taking shape in his mind. Their parents always seemed to fail in teaching their young sons’ anything and their nannies were harsh if not a bit useless and therefore Cooper had taken it upon himself to teach the youngest right from wrong. “I love you Coop,” Blaine mumbled, pulling back slightly. “But you shouldn’t have to be doing this.”

“Doing what?”

Blaine quirked an eyebrow, “Acting like my Dad, Coop, like our Dad. You didn’t have a childhood because of it and it’s not fair.”

“Hey, hey,” Cooper sighed, pulling Blaine close again, “Let’s not get into the semantics of it all now Squirt, yeah I kind of lost a lot of my childhood looking after you guys’ whenever I was home from school, but you know what? I would never have had it any other way. You and the others’, you’re my world. It kills me when something happens to one of you and it completely raises me up when you guys’ achieve something you’ve been working for, I love you all. That is as far as it goes. I love you and you guys’ needed that father figure. Jeez Blaine, you and Bentley were three when I was sixteen, you needed me to take on that role Squirt. I have no regrets, especially not after seeing how you’ve turned out, maybe a few with Bentley,” Cooper frowned as Blaine snorted, burying his face in Cooper’s chest to stifle his laughter, “I love you Blaine. Besides, I’m not half making up for a supposed lack of teenage years now.” Blaine laughed again, wiping away the few tears leaking down his cheeks when Cooper smiled warmly at him, ruffling Blaine’s curls.

“My turn!” Jude yelped, diving over to the pair and pulling Blaine away from Cooper. “My offer still stands Bam Bam,” He murmured quietly.

“I know,” Blaine whispered, just as softly, his eyes flickering over to where Sam and Sebastian were arguing, Reed and Kurt following the fight like a tennis match, heads swinging from side to side as the dispute progressed. “I can’t though, not yet. I’m not risking any of you guys’, besides,” His eyes glanced over to Burt and Carole obviously discussing him with Cooper, “I’m not alone here anymore Jude. I have people I can count on actually in Ohio, not just spread around the country.”

Jude grinned, “Yeah, that much I know, but the offer still stands, and if Ohio ever gets too much and you just want an out for even just few days, there is always a bed with your name on it, always.”

“Thanks. Jude can you promise me something?”

Appraising his younger brother with a raised eyebrow, Jude cautiously nodded, “Sure Blaine, what’s up?”

“Look out for Kurt in New York? I mean I know that he’s been there for a few months now but he’s still just about to start NYADA and I’m worried he’ll run himself into the ground between Vogue and NYADA,” Blaine smiled a bit, a faraway look in his eye as he watched his boyfriend laugh at something Sebastian was saying. “He just, he’s everything.”

“You’re so whipped,” Jude laughed, wrapping an arm around Blaine’s shoulder.

“Look who’s talking pretty sure if Ollie said jump you’d actually ask how high,” Blaine snorted, dodging Jude’s hand that reached out to unsettle his curls.

“All right smart ass. Anyway of course I’ll check in with Kurt, Ollie and I can even introduce him to a few other NYADA students, they’re juniors, but it’ll be good for him to know people other than Rachel,” Nudging Blaine he smiled softly, “He’ll be fine Blainers. I’ve already told him that the spare room is as good as his any night he needs it. I’m guessing you won’t mind sharing when you’re in town?”

“You’re an asshole,” Blaine laughed winding his arms around Jude tightly.

“Hmmmm, maybe but you love me anyway. Now go speak to Benny, he looks a little lost.”

Glancing up, Blaine frowned when he saw Bentley sat amongst the remaining bags, watching everyone else from the distance, his knees drawn up under his chin. With a sigh, Blaine squeezed Jude’s hand once more and made his way over to his twin, smirking when Bentley jumped at his presence.

“What’s up Benny Boo? You look like the world’s about to end.” Turning to look at his twin, Bentley’s bottom lip quivered and his eyes flooded with tears. Blaine’s own amber eyes widened in alarm and he pulled Bentley into his arms, the older twin burying his neck in Blaine’s shoulder, his body shaking slightly with sobs.

“I don’t want to go back Blaine. I miss you too much and I hate it in Washington. The city’s nice, don’t get me wrong, but I really just don’t want to go back.”

“Bentley,” Blaine breathed out quietly, “What’s brought all of this on?”

Bentley shrugged, pulling back slightly. “A mix of things I think. The final straw though was Kaitlin breaking up with me earlier, apparently she and Greg have been sleeping together for like two months now.”

Blaine hissed, wincing slightly, “Isn’t Greg your best friend?”

Laughing humourlessly Bentley shook his head, “Not any more he’s not.”

“Fair point, what else is going on Benny? You can talk to me you know, I’m not some china doll that you all have to protect.”

Bentley choked out a real laugh at that, “Blaine, the more we try to protect you, the more trouble you seem to get into which more often than not will end up with you injured.” Blaine shot Bentley a withering look before poking him, his eyes letting Bentley know that he hadn’t forgotten his line of questioning. Sighing, the older of the pair let his head fall to Blaine’s shoulder, smiling when Blaine’s instinctively dropped to rest on top. “It’s everything Blaine. I know I said after that day at McKinley that I couldn’t wait to go back and maybe academically that’s true but…my roommates a grade A asshole this year who thinks he’s literally so much better than anyone else and constantly has his girlfriend in. Clearly I’ve lost two supposedly good friends in Kaitlin and Greg, as for the others, most are only interested because I’m on the swim team so I’m going to be lonely. Worst of all Father has made it clear to that stupid school that he wants me to go into politics so they’re now pushing it harder and harder.” Gulping Bentley shuddered slightly, “I took Jude’s route, I sent of applications for politics courses, but erm, also for photography.” He sighed again, “I got an early admittance to Columbia to study Visual Arts. You’re the first person I’ve told.”

Blaine sat stunned for a moment before yelping and crushing Bentley in a tight hug, “Bentley that’s amazing! Why the hell haven’t you let anyone know before now?”

“Because I can’t accept it Blaine!” He cried, pulling away from his twin, “He wants me to do politics so I guess it’s what I’ll have to do.”

“Bentley Darren Anderson!” Blaine squawked, shaking his brother, “Have you lost that little piece of a brain that I know is rattling around in there somewhere? Jesus Benny, since when have any of us ever done what Father wanted us to do? Well besides Lucas but that’s because he actually wanted to be a lawyer to fight for equal rights, but meh. Benny if this is what you want then you go for it, you do what makes you happy, even Elijah will tell you that you’ve basically carried a camera everywhere with you since you were three. Benny it’s your destiny, it’s what you love, pursue it with everything that you have. Besides that, Columbia Benny? Are you kidding? Lie to Father and say that you’re doing politics there; he’d never know any different, look at Jude and Ollie. You have to do this Bentley, I won’t let you not.”

“You know, there’s a reason that I love you,” Bentley laughed, swiping his tears away. “God Blaine, I’m going to miss you so much, it’s the reason that I hate coming home for holidays. Afterwards I miss you too much, I always turn to tell you something and you’re just not there because you’re stuck here.”

Blaine smiled softly, “Text me then, whenever you want me just text me. I’m not promising that I’ll always reply that second but I’ll always reply at some point.”

“That sounds good. I love you Blainey Boo.”

“I love you too Benny Boo.”

“How come you’re the youngest yet you always end up giving advice? I heard you talking to Reed earlier too.”

Blaine grinned and shrugged, “Because without me you lot would probably be locked up or running in circles somewhere.”

Bentley laughed, shaking his head, “The horrific thing is that you’re right.”

“I know.”

Sighing, Bentley looked up to where all of the brothers’ were picking up their bags’. “I guess this is it then,” He sighed, hugging Blaine tightly.

“GROUP HUG!” Noah yelled, all of the remaining Anderson’s, Sam, Sebastian and Kurt jumping in, Blaine ending up wrapped up between his boyfriend and his twin.

“We’ve really got to go guys’,” Cooper sighed, watching their flights flash up one at a time on the board, “And I really need to make sure the twins aren’t creating hell back there,” He frowned, glancing towards the security checkpoint.

The others all murmured their assent, each hugging those staying in Ohio one last time. Kurt wrapped his arms tightly around Blaine, feeling the boys’ own squeezing him snugly, “I love you so much Blaine Anderson. I’m never letting go of you ever again, it’s just a few months more baby.”

Blaine nodded carefully, pulling back and capturing Kurt’s lips in a slow, sweet kiss, “I love you too and I know that we can do this, we can.” Blaine let Jude wrap his arm around Kurt’s shoulder, leading the blue eyed boy with the rest of the group towards security, Sam and Sebastian stood either side of Blaine from where they watched the group walk further and further away.

“Oi Blaine,” Bentley suddenly yelled from halfway across the large room. “Greg was never my best friend, that’s been you since they day we were born,” Bentley grinned, lifting a hand in goodbye as Cooper dragged him towards security.

“They’re gone,” Blaine whispered brokenly the tears starting to form a trail down his face, he hadn’t felt this alone in a long time at least the last time they’d all left Kurt had still been there for him for a few extra weeks before Blaine had pushed him off to New York too. “They’re really all gone.”

A hand clasping on his shoulder made Blaine jump and he turned to meet Burt, Sam, Sebastian and Carole’s gloomy eyes. Without a moments hesitation, the teenager flung himself into Burt’s waiting arms, feeling the man hold him close gently shushing him as he rocked them gently. Sam wrapped an arm around Carole’s shoulders when her own tears started to slip down her face, casting a worried glance at his best friend, Sebastian shuffling uncomfortably beside them.

“It’ll be okay squirt,” Burt murmured quietly, “It’ll all be okay they’re only a phone call away. Sam, drive Blaine’s car back to ours, yeah?” He smiled, throwing the shorter teenagers keys to the blonde boy still living in his house with a small smile. Turning slightly to Sebastian, he quirked an eyebrow slightly, “You’re welcome anytime as well Sebastian, and if you have nothing else to do, you may as well join tonight too.”

“I’ll go with Sam Burt just to make sure he gets back okay,” Carole smiled softly, running a hand gently over the back of Blaine’s head before placing a tender kiss to the slightly tamed mass of curls. “Sebastian, are you riding with us?”

Shaking his head, the tall boy smiled softly, “No, erm I drove out earlier because I was dropping my sister off anyway, but I guess, if it’s ok, could I maybe follow?”

Carole beamed at him, wrapping one arm around Sam and the other around a stunned Sebastian as she led them from the airport, “You are more than welcome to Sweetheart.”

Burt nodded slowly as his wife turned away from him, his attention still focused on the heart breaking sobs coming from the boy in front of him. “Come on Blaine, we’ll head back to ours and we can pig out on ice cream and sweets and pizza and get our heads round the fact that Ohio is going to be stupidly quiet for a while.”

Blaine laughed softly, wiping his eyes on the back of his sleeves as Burt chastised him with a soft smile, handing him a tissue. “Kurt will kill me if I let you have ice cream, sweets and pizza,” He sniffled, a few tears still slipping from his eyes and his voice hoarse.

Burt grinned wrapping an arm around Blaine’s shoulder as he led the young teenager out to the parking lot. “Something I’ve learnt lately from your brothers’ is that what Kurt doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

“You’ve spent too much time with Austin and Pippin over the holidays.”

“Probably true but what the hell I like getting to know my boys’ and they were handy to have around the shop when they weren’t causing mayhem,” Burt laughed softly. “I’d say I did a pretty good job of getting to know each and every one of them over the holidays, I still have my favourite though,” He grinned winking at Blaine when he let a small laugh go.

Blaine sighed quietly, “I should probably head home just in case my parents phone or something. They tend to like the house being looked after.”

Burt’s face softened slightly, a severe hatred for the Anderson parents flashing through him before he turned his focus back to their youngest son stood before him, almost curled right in on himself in an attempt to make himself look as small as possible. “Blaine you haven’t heard from them since September I’m sure you can spend one night out and as much as it pains me to say this they wouldn’t notice.” Watching Blaine wince heavily Burt felt a tug at his heart and wound the arm around Blaine’s shoulder tighter. “But hey Sam, Finn, Carole and myself can always use a fifth or sixth person around.” Seeing Blaine’s reluctance still Burt rolled his eyes nudging the teenager, “I’ll even throw in the ‘Harry Potter’ films.”

Blaine laughed fully then, his face a picture of delight as he climbed into the middle passenger seat of the minivan, “Deal, but only if we start at the beginning.”

“Oh we’re pulling an all nighter kid if it gets us through them all. Anything to keep your mind off of today.”

The laughter flowed through the minivan as Blaine cranked up the stereo. Watching Blaine sing along at the top of his lungs when ‘Katy Perry’ blasted from the speakers was enough to make Burt beam. Blaine would be fine; the Hudson-Hummel’s and Sam would make sure of that. After all, Burt had promised nine boys’ that he would make sure of that.


	5. Wish You Were Here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a bit darker than the previous chapters, not much but it is a bit, if you want to skip this one though, the next one should be back to being lighter again hopefully. If you skip to the first line rule you'll miss it all and just see the aftermath if that's better for you, otherwise, there are warnings for slight verbal and emotional abuse in this chapter.

Blaine jumped a mile off of his bed when he heard the front door slam below him, the noise echoing through his headphones, which had been pounding out ‘Michael Jackson’ moments earlier. Tilting his head, he kicked his legs in the air and chewed on his pencil thoughtfully, waiting for one of the housemaids or the gardener to pop their head around his door to let him know they were done for the day. Frowning when the sound of clicking heels reached his ears, Blaine’s eyes widened with a mixture of fear and incredulity while he tried to disentangle himself from his headphone wire and scramble up from his bed.

Tearing into the living room, he came to an abrupt halt when he was met with the judgmental glares of his parents’ and instantly managed to school his stunned features into a neutral expression. Gulping, he straightened his back and walked slowly towards his parents, both of which were eyeing him carefully from their armchairs while sipping their scotches.

"Mother, Father," The young boy nodded, coming to a stop in front of his parents, his hands folding behind his back as he stood ram rod straight.

"Blaine Devon," His father acknowledged, eyes ice cold as they raked over his youngest son, "I trust that everything is in order with the house and you are staying out of the way of the staff."

"Yes Sir," Blaine muttered, eyes finding the floor as he shivered slightly under his Father’s intense gaze.

"Look at me when I speak to you boy and stand up straight!" The older Anderson barked, suddenly standing directly in front of his flinching son, Blaine’s worried hazel eyes raising to meet his father’s stormy grey ones. "Are you still with that boy?"

Blaine’s back straightened as he nodded slightly, “Yes Sir.”

The young boy had been expecting the backhand the minute that it hit his face, managing to brace himself before he stumbled backwards. “We should have sent you to that camp when we had the chance, at the very least that would have straightened you out.” Blaine’s Mother sneered, downing her own scotch before joining her husband in evaluating her son, “I always knew that Cooper was being stupid when he managed to get around having you sent there, of course his stupidity is shown in most of his life choices. He was always much too lenient with you boys’, it’s probably why you’ve all turned out as you have.”

"Cooper raised us! You two were never here it was Coop or Elijah that was there for every broken bone, every scraped knee on a playground. Cooper raised us when he was still just a kid himself, even when he was hundreds of miles away at that stupid school. And with all due respect Ma’am I don’t believe a word that you’ve just said." Blaine ground out, his hands clenching into fists at his sides, nails digging into the palms of his hand.

"What did you just say you insolent little brat?" She hissed, his Father practically frothing at the mouth as he glared at Blaine, both of the adults almost towering over their tiny son.

Blaine stood as tall as he could, hands’ now clasped behind his back as he tried to ignore the stinging in his face. “Cooper’s a good man. One of the best and he has made the life choices that have made him happy and protected those around him. All of my brothers’ are good men, and they will continue to be good men for as long as they live, the majority of that has nothing to do with their parentage.”

His Mother sniffed, still glaring at her youngest son through her murky brown eyes, “However your thoughts on your brothers’ may be, the majority have lost their way and we still should have had you sent to that camp and the rest of them to Sunday school, maybe then you would all have better manners and better views on the world. At least you would know how to better respect your elders. We gave you boys’ everything that you could ever possibly want, despite how you’ve all turned out.”

"Yes Ma’am," The young boy sighed resolutely, staring at the wall behind his parents’ heads as tiredness swept over him, sick of fighting the two people who were supposed to have supported him no matter what. Internally, his mind was racing, but thankfully he had the common sense not to point out that his parents’ truthfully had done very little for their sons’. All the boys’ had ever truly wanted growing up was each other and parents’ who would love and inspire them to be anything they wanted to be. In reality they were dumped with cold hearted nannies and material objects that more often that not had been bought with money from their old family fortune rather than what their parents’ had actually earned. "I still believe that they are all good men though."

"Yes well. You always were the biggest disappointment to your Mother and I Blaine Devon and I do not see that changing at any point in the future. You’re never particularly going to amount to anything. We’re heading to your grandparent’s old summer home in Italy and then after that we’re not sure where we’ll go. We’ll get in touch when we need you to sort the house out for our return. Obviously you need the warning," He sneered at Blaine, cold eyes never once leaving the trembling teens features, ignoring the fact that surfaces around the room were literally gleaming in the evening sunshine that was streaming through the windows.

"Yes Sir," Blaine whispered, not trusting himself to lift his eyes from the floor this time.

Shaking his head, the elder Anderson glared at his youngest son one final time before sweeping from the room beckoning his wife to follow him. Casting a look at her son the petite woman rolled her eyes and followed in her husband’s wake, mumbling under her breath.

Blaine waited for the sound of the front door slamming and the engine of his parent’s limo starting up before he let the tears begin to fall silently down his face. Backing up against the wall, he collapsed to the floor, pulling his shaking knees to his chest and burying his face in them, soundless sobs wracking his tiny frame.

* * *

 

"Dad, Dad I need you to check on Blaine!"

"Okay kid calm down, now what’s going on? I’m grabbing my keys now but I need to know what’s wrong." Burt grimaced, trying to calm his frantic son down.

Kurt’s voice however only seemed to rise in pitch, bordering on a near panic attack over the phone. “I haven’t heard from him in three days and we promised to talk every day so I phoned some of the others and no one’s heard from him. I’m really worried Dad.”

"He hasn’t been at school this week either," Sam piped up from the corner of the front room where he and Sebastian had been playing on the PlayStation for the last few hours, obviously able to hear the full conversation from the sheer volume of Kurt’s screeches.

Sebastian nodded glumly from beside him, automatically pausing their game as he did so. “Now that you mention it I haven’t heard from him all week and I asked him to come today but got no response. And if dapper boy’s anything, it’s punctual with replying to invites be it a yes or a no.”

"Guys’, that was information that I really could have used before now," Burt hissed quietly, still trying to calm the anxious Kurt down on the other end while shooting the blushing, shrugging boys’ on his couch a look. Raising his hand in a farewell, he cast the pair a final glance before shutting the front door.

"Kurt, I’m leaving now. I’m going to drive like a maniac and I’ll be with him as soon as possible. I promised everyone I’d take care of him while none of you were here and blatantly I haven’t done a good job of that so far."

"Dad, you’re always there for all of us. I know for a fact that you’re still in touch with every single Anderson nearly every day." Burt could practically hear Kurt’s smile as he was talking, struggling to keep his own blush at bay while he started the engine. "There was always just you and me, but now you’ve taken another thirteen boys’ under your wing, well young men really, and you never even batted an eyelid. From Finn right down to Sebastian, Dad I don’t even think I have the words for you anymore."

Burt chuckled dryly, “Kurt, I only did what any decent person would’ve done and you know what? I now have fourteen, mostly unofficial, kids who I will do anything for.”

"Hmm, maybe, but somehow I highly doubt most people would go to the lengths that you have for all of us. I’m going to go though, please drive safe Dad."

"I will buddy, I always do. I’ll get him to ring you when I find out what’s going on."

"Oh and Dad a heads up, we tried to talk him out of it, but Benny has just boarded a flight to Columbus and should be landing in about an hour and twenty or so. So you may want to swing by Port Columbus airport on the way to Blaine’s. I know it’s technically out of the way but I’m not sure I trust Benny getting a cab by himself." Kurt paused for a minute; clearly giving Burt a minute to process the fact that he was going to have the youngest two Anderson’s to care for soon enough, rather than just Blaine. "I’m also not sure that anyone but Benny is what Blaine needs or will want right now."

"Kurt, that boy will always need you to. I don’t think you even know how much."

"Yeah. I don’t think he’ll ever realise how much I need him too," Kurt laughed, Burt rolling his eyes at the lovey dovey tone that shone through Kurt’s words. "And Dad?"

"Yeah kid?"

"Thanks. For everything."

Hearing the dial tone, Burt smiled softly, his mind filled with thoughts of all of his boys’. Frowning when they drifted to Blaine, his foot hit the floor, determined to reach Bentley and then Blaine in record time.

* * *

 

Burt had barely pulled up at the Anderson’s mansion before Bentley had swung open the car door and was taking the front steps two at a time. Following behind the young boy at only a slightly slower pace, Burt took the time to close the front door before following Bentley’s footsteps, scarcely able to suppress the shudder that passed through him from the empty feeling of the dark, cold house.

"Blaine," Bentley cried softly as he finally found his brother curled up against the wall in the living room, knees drawn up to his chest, empty eyes staring off into space, "Oh god Blaine, what happened to you?"

Almost as if hearing his twin’s voice broke the spell Blaine was under, his head snapped to the doorway, staring at Bentley for a minute before his clouded eyes appeared to recognise the figures stood there. “Benny,” He croaked quietly, holding out his arms for his brother.

"I’m here Blainey, I’m here," Bentley murmured, instantly crossing the room and drawing Blaine into his arms. Holding Blaine tightly, Bentley shivered when broken sobs started to echo throughout the room, both teens’ bodies shaking with the wretched noises resonating from deep within Blaine. "What happened Blainey?"

Blaine’s eyes sought out Bentley’s identical ones before shifting to focus on Burt’s momentarily, eventually finding the ground as he wrung his hands in his lap. “Am I really worthless Bentley? Am I really such a disappointment to this family?”

Bentley and Burt took in the same ragged breath, their eyes staring at Blaine as Bentley’s head began to shake back and forth rapidly. “No, Blaine no. You are anything but worthless. You’re my best friend and my brother, how could you ever think that?”

"Mom and Dad told me I was their biggest disappointment," Blaine whispered mostly to himself, both Burt and Bentley’s eyes burning with the same rage.

Striding across the room to the two boys’, Burt crouched in front of them, gently placing a hand on Blaine’s cheek to guide the pain filled hazel eyes to look at him. “Blaine, you are a wonderful person.” Guiding Blaine back to him when he tried to bury his face into Bentley’s chest again, Burt shook his head slightly. “You are. If your parents can’t see that then it is their own problem, not yours.” Smiling lightly at the young boy, Burt tilted his head, ignoring the growing numbness in his legs from his crouched position. “I’m not going to say that you’re perfect because you’re not, you make mistakes, you screw up, but hell, you wouldn’t be human if you didn’t. No one is perfect Blaine. Striving too hard to be perfect in some one else’s eyes is just going to ruin the person you could be. What was it that you told my son once, that you would always remind him how perfectly imperfect he was? You need to try and remember that for yourself too.”

Blaine’s shining wide eyes stared at Burt for a few moments before he disentangled himself from Bentley and threw himself into the man’s waiting arms. Chuckling as he crashed backwards onto the floor, Burt held him close.

"Thank you Burt."

Shrugging slightly, Burt squeezed the young boy tightly before loosening his grip. “Ring him Blaine, he was really worried.”

The curly haired boy nodded, eyes still tinted red as he pulled out his phone, Bentley shooting a sad smile in Burt’s direction as he gripped Blaine’s knee gently. Standing, the older twin motioned to the kitchen, Burt clasping Blaine’s shoulder before following, the coffee machine already running.

* * *

 

"I just don’t know Kurt, Blaine’s never ever done this before. Even when he’s thrown a temper tantrum and refused to actually speak to anyone for various reasons, more often than not because one of the twins pranks has gone a bit too far, but he’s always checked in with Cooper, always. Cooper’s completely losing his shit in L.A. according to Aus but he can’t leave at the minute otherwise he loses this job and it could be a big one for him," The older boy sighed, running a hand through messed up curls before taking a sip of his cappuccino wincing slightly at the burn snaking down his throat.

Kurt angled his head azure eyes scanning Jude’s all too familiar features, smiling softly at the little traits that he’d always thought were so inherently Blaine, but now knew were an Anderson brothers’ thing that had simply passed from one to another before they’d all picked up the various habits. “Blaine would never forgive himself or Cooper if Coop left L.A. right now for him.”

Jude nodded slowly, folding his hands on the table in front of him, “I’m pretty certain that is the only thing keeping him in California right now.”

Kurt’s phone buzzing into life startled both men as Kurt scrambled to answer his boyfriend’s call, eyes widening when Blaine burst into tears at the sound of his voice. “Blaine, B, Baby calm down. Come on, hey, hey, it’s alright Mon petit trésor please.”

Smiling softly as Blaine’s sobs slowed to hiccups, Kurt listened to his explanation of what had happened, eyes burning with a fury that scared Jude, making him shift uncomfortably when the younger man’s eyes caught on him. “They’re assholes and they’re not worth it B. They literally are talking shit.” Kurt laughed sharply, a sound that made Jude flinch and watch Kurt more closely. “Blaine Devon Anderson listen to me and listen to me now. You speak six languages fluently, you can play at least eleven instruments ridiculously well, you’re a straight A student, the senior class president, one of the leaders of the glee club, and of god knows how many other clubs, and you’re back on the top ranked high school cheerleading squad in the country as of last week, for which I still demand pictures of you in that uniform.” Jude snorted into his coffee, trying to stop himself from choking as Kurt glared at him, ice blue eyes giving him away as they shimmered in amusement at his future brother-in-law.

"And you know what Blaine, all of that aside, you are a loving, honest, caring, hard working person who helps just about as many people as he can. You got me to still come out here even though it made you miserable, you’re making sure both Brittany and Sam graduate this year and don’t even get me started on your relationships with your brothers’.

Blaine Anderson you amaze me and just about everyone else that you meet. You are anything but a disappointment or worthless or whatever other crap they told you. Besides, you are everything to me.”

Jude’s head snapped up, alarm bells ringing as he heard Kurt utter the words he knew would break his little brother, the words that only two people he knew of would ever utter after meeting Blaine. Kurt waved him off when he opened his mouth to say something, turning his attention back to his conversation with Blaine.

"I love you too always mon petit trésor, you should know that. All right, I’ll speak to you later, make sure Benny takes care of you and don’t burn the house down. I love you Blaine."

"My asshole parents got to him then?" Jude questioned watching the fire in Kurt’s eyes slowly fade away as he drank down his coffee.

"Yep," He confirmed, draining his mug, "Your parents truly are assholes. Bentley and my Dad are with Blaine now though and they’re calling Coop so you don’t have to worry about that either. I think they’re going to see if Benny can stay in Ohio."

"Makes sense, they never wanted to be split up in the first place," Jude shrugging, slowly pulling on his coat and scarf. "Can I just ask though, I know Blaine calls you ‘mio bello’ and that means ‘my beautiful’ in Italian, right?" The green eyed man smirked slightly when Kurt blushed, nodding slowly. "And I’ve noticed you calling Blaine ‘mon petit trésor’, but what does it mean? Sadly only Blaine was gifted with languages in our family, I think it’s French though right?"

Kurt rolled his eyes, a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth as he held the door out for Jude to take. “Yes it’s French, it means ‘my little treasure’. Corny, but when my brother started to tease Blaine for his height he always retorted with ‘good things come in small packages’ and it just kind of escalated from there. Also, your French accent is terrible.”

Jude glared at Kurt before slinging an arm around his shoulders with a small smirk, “I’ll get you back for that comment one day little brother, one day victory shall be mine.”

"Oh dream on," Kurt snorted, laughing at Jude’s affronted expression. Shoving him slightly, Kurt cackled when Jude slipped on the ice, just managing to catch himself before he fell over. Glaring at the younger man, Jude rolled his eyes and grabbed his arm, leading them back to the subway station so they could each get home and out of the freezing New York City streets.

* * *

 

Later that night lightning flashed across the sky making Bentley’s eyes flutter open, the crashing thunder that followed making him sit bolt upright, watching the rain flow like a river down his windows. Reaching to switch on his bedside table, the teenager sighed when he realised the power was out, stretching to open his nearby drawer to pull out an emergency flashlight, illuminating his messy room within minutes. Hearing a tiny supressed whimper, Bentley’s eyes widened and he leapt out of bed. “Shit, shit, shit,” He muttered, wrenching his door open and sprinting to the next room on the long corridor, hurtling through it moments later.

Blaine’s petrified eyes flickered to Bentley’s in the light of his own torch, Bentley rolling his eyes with a soft smile. “Scoot over dipshit, you should have just yelled for me.”

Blaine glared wordlessly, but held the blankets up for Bentley to fly under, instantly snuggling up to his brother, “Soooooo, still scared of thunder storms then?” He chuckled softly, pulling Blaine closer at a particularly loud boom.

"It’s not funny asshole," Blaine muttered, shaking slightly and burrowing his head into Bentley’s chest when the lightning lit up the room once more. "If stupid Noah hadn’t locked us outside in that one when we were eight I’d be fine. Stupid Noah."

Bentley simply chuckled softly, letting Blaine cuddle as close as he needed. “I got over the fear pretty quickly. I mean jeez Blainey what do you do when none of us are here usually?”

"You weren’t within inches of that stupid lightning strike," Blaine mumbled, making Bentley wince as he thought of his brother’s horrified little face when they’d been locked out in that lightning storm, specifically when the bolt had hit the swing set not far from where Blaine had been sheltering from the rain. "And as for what I do I ring all of you losers or Kurt on a continuous loop until one of you picks up and then I literally don’t stop talking until the storm’s passed over. It helps, marginally, but it does help."

"Oh," Bentley whispered quietly.

"Yeah, oh," The younger of the pair whispered, letting his eyes flutter shut as he tried to will his body to sleep.

"Hey Blaine," Bentley whispered moments later into the stillness of the room, his voice battling only against the continuous thunder and the howling wind.

"Hmmm?" The younger answered, his tired eyes momentarily flickering towards his twin.

"You don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to. But erm, I was just wondering what Coop meant at Christmas when he said you cheated on Kurt? I know that we kind of joked about it at the time but that is so not you Blainey, and erm, I guess that ever since Kait cheated with Greg I’ve been trying to work out what the hell I did wrong."

"Oh," Blaine muttered, his eyes focusing on the bed spread as he sat up, his fingers fiddling with a loose thread.

"Blainey, you don’t have to tell me anything. I’m just morbidly curious for my own selfish reasons I guess."

"Benny I’m sure that you did nothing wrong, believe me the problem is on her end, not yours. I never really liked her anyway the girl was a bitch at the end of the day. But erm I actually want to tell you why I did what I did."

"Okay Blainey Boo, go for it."

"I kissed another guy. I was lonely, like ridiculously so, and it all got too much and I couldn’t cope with it. It started when Kurt stopped picking up my phone calls and everyone else was stupidly busy with school or work so I didn’t want to bother anyone. He was…he was a guy I friended on facebook." Blaine stuttered, trying to avoid Bentley’s curious eyes.

Bentley sat bolt upright, staring at his brother in dread as Blaine fell back onto the bed, disrupted from where he had been half lying on Bentley’s chest, his head on his shoulder. “Blaine you went to a stranger’s house?” He squawked, eyes wide with fright.

"Yeah," Blaine sighed, wincing slightly, "Erm, we, er…we went up to his room and I don’t know…I just wanted someone to talk to…to listen to me and I guess a hug or some kind of physical contact, I wasn’t particularly close to anyone at McKinley at the time, they were still Kurt’s friends really, not mine and you know what I’m like for hugs and things."

"Yeah, you’re like an octopus," Bentley laughed nervously; desperately hoping to lighten what he was hearing at least a little.

Blaine continued as if he hadn’t heard a word his brother said, sitting up against the headboard and pulling his knees to his chest timidly. “But he…he leaned over and kissed me…and I knew it wasn’t right, I knew it wasn’t what I wanted,” Blaine stared into space, his mind reliving those dreadful moments in his past as the pit of dread in Bentley’s stomach grew with each passing word.

"But he…he had my arms pinned down and he…he got my shirt off and my pants unbuttoned before I managed to punch him in the face." Blaine drew in a shuddering breath, Bentley hooked on his every word. "I grabbed my shirt and I ran…booked a flight to New York to tell Kurt what I’d done and ended up having Adam and Ollie pick me up from a bar when I’d apparently had to much to drink. I’m just lucky that Adam’s squeeze of the time recognised me from photos at one of Jude and Ollie’s house parties or I would’ve been completely screwed. Then I proceeded to ruin the rest of Jude and Ollie’s weekend by spending Sunday alternating between throwing up in their bathroom or sobbing on them." Blaine laughed dryly, swiping at his eyes as he looked up to met Bentley’s horrified ones, "What?"

"Blaine…Blaine you freaking innocent god damn douchebag! That wasn’t cheating Blaine, have you told Kurt any of this?"

"What are you talking about Bentley?" Blaine queried looking genuinely confused, "I let him kiss me and he got my shirt off of me, of course it was cheating and no I didn’t tell him any of it. He didn’t want to know and details so I didn’t tell him, and to be totally honest I didn’t really want to relive it again."

"Blaine you didn’t cheat! That was attempted rape," Bentley roared wincing when Blaine flinched away from him, "You didn’t go to his house with the intention of doing anything. He forced himself on you effectively. Blaine, I mean Jesus Christ, god knows what he could’ve done if you didn’t get your arm free. I mean jeez Blaine I love you, you are my best friend in the entire universe, but how could you have been so stupid?" A wave of anger passed over Bentley as he watched his still confused twin, "I’m going to kill him, what’s his name?"

Blaine’s head snapped up, his eyes pleading. “Benny, no please, please just leave it.”

"Fine," The elder of the pair growled lowly, "Don’t tell me, that’s your choice, but remember Pip’s old best friend Henry? He’s a private investigator now and I’m sure he’d be more than happy to track this guy down for me."

"No Bentley you can’t please! Please just let me forget it!" Blaine pleaded, sitting upright in order to look directly into his brother’s eyes, "Please Bentley and you can’t tell the others. Please."

Bentley softened slightly taking in Blaine’s obviously terrified and unsure features. “One condition.”

"Anything."

"You have to tell Kurt," Bentley muttered determinedly, eyes never leaving Blaine’s as the storm that had stretched long into the night started to slow and ease up outside their windows.

"Anything but that," Blaine murmured, "Please Benny, I can’t tell him…"

Bentley shook his head resolutely. “Well that’s my condition. Take it or leave it.”

"Leave it," Blaine muttered as determined as his brother, staring into Bentley’s stormy eyes.

"Yeah, in actual fact that is not an option. If anyone gets to know, it’s Kurt." Reaching over Blaine, he pulled his brother’s phone from the docking station and instantly started to scroll through his contacts.

Blaine pushed Bentley to the other side of the bed, snatching the phone from him. “That’s not your call to make god damn it Bentley!” He yelled, the anger growing in his own eyes a his brother tried to force him into a confession he wasn’t even sure he believed in, let alone ready to make.

"Well if you’re going to be so stupid over it then someone has to make it for you!" Bentley screamed back, shoving Blaine while stealing the phone from his grip.

"It’s not up to you!" Blaine shrieked, the twins tumbling to the floor as they fought, the phone lying forgotten about on the bed as they struggled in each other’s hold, equally matched on strength and power.

"Yes it is because you’re not thinking rationally about this!" Pushing Blaine over, Bentley managed to grab his wrists, pinning him to the floor as they each seethed with anger. "I have to protect you and to do that more people need to be let in Blaine."

Blaine struggled in Bentley’s grip, managing to throw him off of his chest before they were thrashing around for dominance once more in their fight. “I’m less than a half an hour younger than you. I’m perfectly capable of protecting myself you asshole.”

"Blaine you were almost raped!"

Silence followed Bentley’s shout before the two started going at it once more, punches being thrown and legs kicking as they rebelled against each other. On the other side of the unknowingly open line to New York, Kurt’s hand was covering his mouth, tears streaming down his face and his heart hammering against his ribcage. Hanging up the line, he instantly searched his contacts and started to ring Bentley’s number, praying the boy had his phone in the same room.

Hearing the blaring ringtone sounding throughout the room, the twins instantly stilled, curious as to who would be ringing Bentley so early in the morning. “Well that escalated quickly,” The older twin winced, standing and pulling Blaine to his feet, gingerly wiping at the trickle of blood flowing from his nose.

"Sorry," Blaine whispered.

"I’m sorry too, you’re right, it’s up to you. But I really think you should tell him Blainey I mean my god, we could have lost you." Bentley yanked Blaine into his arms cradling him close to his chest in the silence of the room, only interrupted when his phone burst into life once more. "Eurgh, who the hell is trying to get in touch at this time?" Not bothering to check the caller I.D., the boy swiped his phone unlocked.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN BLAINE WAS ALMOST RAPED?"

"I urgh, I think it’s for you," Bentley squeaked, holding the phone out to a horrified Blaine.

* * *

 

The next morning, Bentley was trying to eat his waffles normally, wincing whenever he managed to get syrup in the cut across his lip and with a bag of frozen peas clutched to his arm. Glancing up nervously when the kitchen door swung open to reveal a fairly messy Blaine with a nicely forming black eye, the elder twin sent him a timid smile. “Hi,” He whispered uncertainly.

"Oh god did I do that?" Blaine whimpered, immediately trying to assess Bentley’s cuts and bruises.

"Yeah but you should see the other guy," Bentley joked weakly, offering his bag of frozen peas to Blaine who gladly placed them over his eye. "Burt’s going to kill us when he comes by later."

Blaine snorted slightly, stealing a bit of Bentley’s waffle, “That is nothing compared to what Coop’s going to do when he sees the state of us on skype.”

"No kidding. I am truly sorry Blaine, that wasn’t my call to make."

Blaine shook his head, ungelled curls flying. “No Benny, I’m sorry. That was the right call to make and you were just looking out for me after my idiotic mistake.”

"So you and Kurt?" Bentley queried cautiously, grinning at the beam that spread over Blaine’s face.

"Are much better for the truth finally being out thank you. There were a lot of tears and both of us hung up at least twice but we’re back on the right track."

"Good. And now I get to stay here too," Bentley grinned, laughing when Blaine threw his arms around him, "Coop faxed over the paperwork this morning, I start McKinley on Monday and my old school are just shipping my stuff back from my dorm room."

"Some things are just meant to be," Blaine mused, stealing more of Bentley’s waffles amongst his twin’s laughter and protests.


	6. Irritating Friends And A History Lesson

“And you are a self centred egotistical bitch Rachel Berry!” Kurt screamed, chest heaving as he glared at his roommate, her own eyes narrowed in annoyance.

“Yeah? Well at least I had the decency to hear my ex-boyfriend out when he came to visit before jumping into bed with the next gay guy that I met.”

Kurt’s eyes widened, his breath leaving his body as his hands trembled, Rachel’s own hands slapping over her mouth. “Low blow Rachel, really low blow. Also, can I please remind you that I never so much as kissed Lewis and of whose arms you were already in when my brother arrived at the door?”

“I’m sorry, Kurt, I’m so sorry,” She whimpered, advancing towards him even as he backed away.

Shaking his head, the blue eyed boy grabbed his coat and headed for the door of their shared apartment. “I need you to leave me alone, at least for a little while.” Without looking back Kurt slipped the door to their apartment open and stumbled out into the brisk late afternoon air, Rachel’s hands covering her face as the sobs wracked her small frame, tiny ‘sorry’s’ slipping repeatedly from her lips.

Ignoring the biting cold that surrounded him as he slipped from their apartment block, Kurt tugged the collar of his coat higher and headed for the subway, figuring he might as well wander around the city and maybe even find a diner to hole up in before going back to face his roommate. Feeling the snowflakes start to fall, Kurt frowned deeply, “Well that’s just great, just great.”

* * *

Knocking on the door, his teeth chattering and feeling more than a little out of his depth, Kurt prayed that he had found the right apartment. Having found the little slip of paper which Jude had shoved in his pocket during their last coffee meet up (incidentally the last time he’d needed to rant about his impossible roommate) he had followed the older Anderson’s hastily scrawled directions leading him to the newly refurbished apartment block in the Greenwich Village area, with any luck where Jude and his husband were currently residing. He just hoped that Jude’s offer of his spare room for the night was still a viable option.

The door swung open to reveal a tall, well built man with longer, shaggier hair than it had been in the only picture Kurt had seen of him, the blonde tips obviously having long grown out too. The man’s head tilted to the side curiously, indigo eyes sweeping the full length of Kurt before a small smirk overtook his features.

“Jude there’s a hot, soaked through, lost looking kid on our doorstep. Can we keep him?” He called over his shoulder, Kurt still trembling slightly under his probing gaze. Jude stumbled into the entryway behind his husband, clad in a thick grey Julliard sweatshirt and black skinny jeans, thick-rimmed glasses framing his confused emerald eyes.

The elder man’s face lit up when he spied Kurt around Ollie’s lithe frame, “Claws away Oliver, this is Blaine’s boyfriend Kurt.” His face turned back to utter bewilderment when he saw the state Kurt was in. Pushing Ollie out of the way gently, he stepped up to Kurt, eyeing him closely, “Kid you’re drenched. Have you just been walking around in the snow?"

Meanwhile Ollie’s entire demeanour had shifted, a grin spreading over his face as he watched his husband fuss over the nineteen year old. “It’s nice to finally meet another survivor of this psycho family.”

“Ollie,” Jude groaned in exasperation, Kurt letting loose a broken chuckle as Jude wrapped an arm around his shoulder and dragged him inside the apartment. Ollie led the two of them into a spacious living room, the TV quietly playing away in the corner, the latest 'Iron Man’ comic and a guitar spread out on the couch where the two men had obviously been previous to their unexpected guest dropping in on them. “But seriously kid, have you just been walking around in the snow for the past couple of hours?”

Kurt shrugged slightly, a few water droplets flying from his shaky figure, “Pretty much. I had a fight with Rachel again and I needed to get out of the apartment so I came into the city and pretty much wandered around Times Square and Broadway before finding your note in my pocket and heading over here.”

“Jesus Kurt,” His boyfriend’s older brother muttered, yanking his coat off and passing it to Ollie who promptly hung it up to dry before returning to Jude’s side, concern etched into his defined features. “That literally must have taken hours if all you’ve done is walk around the city.”

The blue eyed teenager shrugged once more, his eyes trained on the floor, “Yeah, I left Bushwick at about four, I guess?”

Ollie whistled lowly and Jude’s hand slapped over his eyes, “Blaine’s going to kill me. I mean he’s actually going to kill me. Kurt it’s minus god knows what out there, barely just turned February and it’s been snowing for the entire four hours you’ve been outside. I mean damn kid,” Studying Kurt again, the worry in both older men’s features felt overwhelming, Kurt struggling to find words to express how sorry and grateful he was in the same sentence.

Smiling feebly, he caught Jude’s gaze, “You still can’t really call me kid you’re only twenty-one and I turned nineteen in December Jude.”

Jude rolled his eyes good naturedly, “Twenty two as of last week thank you very much.”

“Old man,” Ollie sniggered quietly, Kurt’s eyes flashing up to him in surprise as Jude’s gaze narrowed.

“Fuck you,” He growled, glaring at his husband who simply grinned toothily back.

“Well yes I was actually planning on that.”

“Oliver!” Jude yelped, causing Kurt to let loose the most care free laugh he’d felt since returning to New York after winter break.

Ollie simply snickered, walking away as Jude herded Kurt over to the couch. “Kurt I’m sure Blainers left some stuff last time he was here, his shit always seems to end up everywhere. Are you comfortable in short stuff’s clothes or do you want to borrow some of ours?” Ollie grinned around the doorway to the corridor, his messy hair falling over his eyes.

“Assuming short stuff is Blaine then I’m probably happier in his stuff,” Kurt laughed, accepting the coffee Jude was handing him with a small smile.

Ollie nodded thoughtfully, “Sure boyfriend sweats and a hoodie or something coming right up. Ironically for how short the majority of Anderson’s seem to be, their clothes are always way too comfortable.” Ollie laughed ducking out of the way as Jude flung one of the pillows from the couch at him.

“Don’t think I haven’t realised that you’re wearing my t-shirt Ollie!”

A snort sounded up the corridor, “Don’t think that you’re getting it back sweetheart, at least not until it stops smelling like you.”

Jude rolled his eyes, glancing back to Kurt, “Seriously get out of your relationship now, while you still can. Just run.”

Kurt chuckled as Ollie sauntered back into the room, dropping some of Blaine’s clothes into Kurt’s lap before tackling his husband onto the armchair opposite where Kurt was sitting. “Take that back,” He laughed, tickling Jude as the older man yelped and squirmed under him, trying to get the upper hand.

“Never,” He gasped, giggling and reaching out to pinch Ollie’s upper arms, finally managing to wrap his arms around his husband and hold him still on his lap, Ollie’s head flopping onto his shoulder with a contented sigh. “Sorry about that Kurt. The bathroom’s just up the corridor, second door on the left. Feel free to have a shower to warm up or whatever and we’ll order some take out while you change.”

* * *

Full of pizza and breadsticks a few hours later, the three young men were curled up together on the couch; Kurt wrapped in a blanket and huddled between the married couple still trying to warm up. 'The Avengers’ played on the TV, each of the three engrossed for entirely different reasons.

“He’s just so god damn gorgeous,” Ollie muttered, Kurt humming in appreciation and swiping a handful of popcorn as both of their heads tilted to get a better view of Robert Downey Junior running, happily ignoring the fact that there were many other actors also starring in the film. Jude turned to them, shaking his head slightly and rolling his eyes. “Don’t pout honey, you don’t pull it off like the puppy dog twins can.” Jude’s pout deepened, sliding further down in his seat. Kurt snickered slightly and turned to look at Ollie.

“I cannot believe that 'The Avengers’ is on, the most awesome film ever, and you two are discussing how pretty Robert Downey Junior is,” He murmured under his breath, rolling his eyes for good measure.

“Benny and Blaine by any small chance?” Kurt grinned, cheerfully ignoring Jude’s irritated mumbling.

“How did you guess?” Ollie whispered scathingly, looking to Kurt with one eyebrow raised, “I honestly have no idea how you handle it, he’d get everything he ever wanted if he could pull off that face properly.”

“Still here,” Jude whined, waving his arms causing the other two to laugh again.

“Of course you are, focus back on the action honey and let me and Kurt ogle Downey Junior some more. You know it’s a fair enough compromise.”

Jude grumbled bitterly, the three turning back to the screen before Kurt shot Ollie a wicked grin, his own eyebrow quirked up. “What makes you think Blaine doesn’t get everything he wants anyway?” He smirked, Ollie choking on his popcorn and Jude blocking his ears, humming to himself and blatantly ignoring them.

“Oh we’re keeping you Kurt Hummel,” Ollie beamed, flinging a handful of popcorn at Jude who promptly caught it in his mouth, “I think I could corrupt you just perfectly yet.”

“God help the world,” Jude muttered dryly, throwing a few kernels back at Ollie.

“I swear to god all boys are utter and complete jerks,” A British accent drifted through the expansive apartment along with the slamming of the front door, a sandy haired boy stomping into the room moodily moments later. His features merged into shock when he saw Kurt curled up between the couple, coffee mug still clutched tightly between two hands, cerulean eyes wide with inquisitiveness. “Oh, hello,” Shooting a look at Ollie, he dropped heavily into the armchair opposite the couch.

“Adam, Kurt, Kurt, Adam. What’re you and Joey fighting about now?” Ollie sighed, leaning back into the couch and studying his friend after hitting the pause on their film.

“Boys’ are stupid,” Adam huffed crossing his arms and falling backwards into the armchair.

“No, Joey’s an idiot and we really need to take that key back from you,” Jude yawned, ruffling Kurt’s hair when the teenagers head fell sleepily to his shoulder, Kurt not even having the energy to swipe his hand away. “What happened this time?”

Sighing, Adam tugged the red beanie from his head and ran a hand through his hair. “It doesn’t matter to be honest, we’ll be over it in a few days. But until then boys’ are stupid.”

Ollie rolled his eyes with a small smile, getting up to grab a few cans of Diet Coke from the fridge and passing them round. “Of course they are honey,” He cooed, catching Jude’s amused glance and biting his lip to stop his laughter.

“Can I crash here tonight? Or possibly for a few nights? Joey’s having a stupid party,” Adam pouted, smiling at the married couple innocently.

“And there we go. You really don’t have party bone in your body, do you?” Ollie chuckled lightly, Adam shaking his head and doubling his pouting efforts. “It’s fine Ads. You’re welcome whenever, and you know that. But you’re taking the couch tonight, Kurt’s already claimed the spare room.”

“Oh, I don’t mind staying on the couch,” Kurt spoke up, wincing when his voice squeaked a little with a mixture of tiredness and uncertainty as the three older men seemed to hold a wordless conversation over his head.

“Nah, don’t worry about it,” Adam smiled softly, “The spare room’s really Blainey’s room anyway. I’m just a freeloader from time to time.”

Ollie’s eyes lit up as he looked between the two guests in the apartment, Jude hiding a soft laugh with a cough. “Ooh, ooh, Adam I totally did not introduce Kurt properly.” At both Adam and Kurt’s curious looks, Jude snorted, once more hiding it behind a coughing fit when Ollie reached out to tap the back of his head. “Kurt here is Blainey boy’s boyfriend, yes he is.”

The sandy haired man’s eyes twinkled as he looked to Kurt, a grin growing on his face, “Ah so I finally get to meet the illustrious Kurt Hummel.” Kurt blushed under his gaze, burying his face in Jude’s shoulder sleepily, his potential future brother in law wrapping an arm loosely round him to pull him closer, Kurt feeling Jude’s shoulder shake with silent chuckles. “Oh wait does that mean that you’re the one who…”

Adam was cut off as Jude started to nod almost frantically, “Yep he would be the one.”

Adam winced heavily, yawning and scratching a hand across his stomach as he recalled the events of the previous October. “Ouch. How is Blaine after he decided to find solace in his new best friend Jack Daniels? I haven’t talked to him in a while.”

“Better and never touching the stuff again apparently,” Ollie sniggered, trying to block out the memories of the hysterical Blaine that he and Adam had had the joy of picking up from a bar on that awful October night and instead thinking about the few odd moments that cheerful drunk Blaine kept popping up.

“Hmm he stuck to that at Christmas and New Year’s. He was strictly vodka and beer as far as I know at least,” Jude grinned, pointedly ignoring Kurt’s curious gaze and attempting to look just about anywhere else.

Adam snorted ungracefully, effectively drawing Kurt’s attention but somehow managing to miss the signals that Jude kept shooting him to shut him up. “I guessed that he’d be put off it to be fair. He emptied a bottle and a half of the stuff within two and a half hours according to Kyle. How he didn’t actually die is beyond me to be honest.” The NYADA student tilted his head thoughtfully, shrugging slightly.

“He did what?” Kurt roared, shooting upright as the other three winced.

Ollie patted him gently on the shoulder, simply raising an eyebrow when Kurt turned his infamous bitch glare on him. “Kurt Hummel I invented that look in a boarding school full of stuck up preppy teenage girls’ whose Mommy’s and Daddy’s bought them whatever their emotionless little hearts desired so don’t start with me.” Grinning, he pushed Kurt back into Jude again, the curly haired man wrapping his arms around the younger boy. “Besides, don’t you want to find out what kind of a hot mess your boyfriend was that night?”

“I’d really kind of rather not given that it was my fault he was out there but I have the feeling like I should know.” Feeling all three of the men’s stares on him he blushed, sighing, “We’d gone back to my apartment but Blaine packed his stuff and left by half nine and I did nothing to stop him.”

Jude gaped at the teenager, “We really need to teach you two about the dangers of the city you know that right? This place isn’t small town Ohio!”

Ollie sighed, reaching out to run a hand through his husband’s curls, Kurt shuffling slightly uncomfortable being trapped in the middle of them. “Sweetheart calm down, you know as well as I do that sometimes you just need to get out of the apartment. Blaine’s a fully trained boxer, albeit a tiny one, but he was fine so cool it and Kurt was here before it got too late, so they’re not completely dense.”

Kurt scowled, huffing and crossing his arms across his chest. “Still here guys! Is anyone going to actually tell me what happened in October or is the furthest I’m getting that apparently my boyfriend decided getting wasted was a brilliant solution.”

Adam smiled sympathetically, “Ignore them, they kind of go into their own little world and everything around them tends to disappear when they’re together. You would think marriage would’ve stopped the craziness.” He laughed, automatically dodging the pillows thrown his way from his two friends and sticking out his tongue in triumph, tucking the pillows around himself on the chair and looking to Kurt once more. “I can tell you most of the night if you want to know it?”

Kurt nodded slightly, shuffling until he was comfortable, Ollie and Jude laughing at him from where they had effectively become his human pillows. Ollie yawned, stretching an arm around Kurt and over Jude’s shoulder, pulling them both tightly to him. “Yay story time, let’s go Ads. Although somehow I don’t think this will be very PG.”

Adam chuckled, rolling his eyes at his friend’s childlikeness and Jude shot him a fond glance and even Kurt laughed softly. Leaning forward in his chair, Adam clasped and unclasped his hands, glancing over Kurt in particular. “Okay then, I guess let’s start with I’m not exactly unknown around here.” Ollie snickered quietly, only stopping when Adam shot him a glare. “My first year at NYADA, it was…well let’s just say I wasn’t used to having so many openly gay guys around, and more to the point so many who were interested in me. It led to a lot of connections in the city.” Seeing Kurt’s slightly horrified look he smiled wryly, “Most of them are genuinely good guys Kurt, and they never did anything I said no to, so yeah I ended up in contact with a lot of them still after I met Joey in my sophomore year last year. That also means that I brought quite a few to Ollie and Jude’s parties and things around here, not that any of the three of us are really big partiers at all.”

Kurt nodded, confusion seeping through his veins as he wondered what on earth this had to do with Blaine. “Well then imagine my surprise when one of them, Kyle, called me out of the blue at midnight and said he had something I might be interested in. In other words Blaine was drinking himself stupid in one of the corner booths of the bar that Kyle was working at and it was closing time. Thankfully Kyle had recognised him from one of the photos round here and convinced the bouncers not to throw him out on his ass.” Kurt sighed, burying his face in his hands as Adam continued. “I was already out with Ollie so naturally we raced to 'O'Riley’s’ and dragged him back here much to Blaine’s disgust. He’s really not all that easy to coax when he’s drunk.”

Kurt lowered his hands, a soft, sad smile playing on his lips. “It depends what mood you catch him in, sometimes he’s too reasonable for his own damn good.”

“I’m not sure which is better to be honest,” Jude muttered, shaking his head at the image of his wasted younger brother from that night.

Ollie sighed gently, ruffling Jude’s curls even as the man protested. “Basically when we got him back here he collapsed onto the sofa and was just moaning about how it was all his fault and he was so stupid and you deserved so much better. For how drunk he was, he was actually pretty coherent but it was like he couldn’t hear anyone else, just his own thoughts and they were pretty scary really. I’d never heard him that completely down on himself and he was adamant that everything was his fault completely and he was never going to be worthy of talking to you ever again.” Smiling sorrowfully at Kurt, Ollie shrugged carefully, deliberately having a silent conversation with Adam over Kurt’s head until he nodded, both in agreement to avoid mentioning Blaine’s hysterical crying and mood swings that had led to some terrifying comments in regard to the youngest Anderson’s feelings on his own life from that night.

Kurt’s eyes were wide as he protested weakly, “But…but it wasn’t his fault, it wasn’t his fault at all.”

“I know that, you know that, but Blaine is Blaine,” Jude sighed, pulling away from the group hug on the couch to turn and look at Kurt directly. “Even when you found everything out, he still believed it was his fault, am I right?”

“Wait you knew? You knew all this time and you didn’t tell me or anyone else?” Kurt questioned, his eyes glaring accusingly into Jude’s.

The emerald eyed man sighed, hesitating slightly. “Kurt, Blaine is my best friend. He is also my little brother and I would happily lay down my own life in order to protect him. He is everything good about this world practically and he has been through so much shit, that’s not to say he’s perfect. He’s human at the end of the day and we all have our flaws. Eli was just the icing on top of the cake after everything that had happened to him though really. He broke in a way I’ve never ever seen him break that weekend. I actually skipped classes for the week after and kept him pretty much chained to my side here in the apartment because I was too worried to leave him alone. It was his story to tell you in the end, not mine. At the end of the day, I love you like a little brother and everything, but my loyalty will always, always lie with Blaine. He’s my baby brother and I would do anything for him.”

“Understandable, sorry,” Kurt whispered, his eyes flickering up to meet Jude’s warm ones. “I mean Finn and I aren’t exactly the closest of brothers, but I’d still do just about anything for him.”

“Except when he tried to get you to go tubing in the mud with us?” Jude smirked, Ollie looking horrified behind Kurt and Adam snickering gently.

Shuddering, the blue eyed man giggled lightly, “That was never going to happen. I don’t even know how the hell you guys managed to find a muddy area in Ohio in the middle of winter. Everything was covered in god knows how much snow.”

“Getting dirty and getting into trouble is kind of the unidentical twins speciality,” Adam muttered dryly.

“You know the twins?” Kurt queried, his head shooting up, eyebrows raised.

“Here we go,” Ollie murmured failing backwards into the cushions and closing his eyes.

Adam blushed lightly, running a hand through his unruly hair and glancing at Jude who merely shrugged with a grin. “Well I guess it’s safe to say you might as well know now, it’ll only come out anyway within the next year or so when Yankee Doodle gets here anyway.”

Jude shook his head with a sigh, “You have got to stop calling him that.”

“Annnnd I will. The second you can get him to stop calling me Brit.”

Ollie and Jude glanced to each other with, “Never gonna happen,” They laughed simultaneously.

“Exactly,” Adam grinned before frowning, “And super creepy, don’t do that again.”

Kurt scowled, waving his arms around in an attempt to get attention, “Hello? Can we please get back on topic here?”

“Oh yeah,” Adam sighed, dipping his head into his hands, looking up with his elbows on his knees, chin rested on his folded hands, “Kurt, exactly how much has Blaine told you about his first high school? Not Dalton but the one beforehand.”

“Not much, just that he went to a dance and…” Kurt trailed off, his head snapping up to look at Adam. “You were his Sadie Hawkins date, weren’t you?”

Nodding glumly the sandy haired man nodded and cleared his throat. “Yeah, yeah I was,” He whispered, his voice strained from tears he was evidently holding back, “And I know for a fine fact that Blaine won’t have told you the full story, but I believe that you deserve to hear it. Actually no, you need to hear it, but Blaine will never tell it.”

“I’m listening,” Kurt mumbled in the now silent room, his ice blue eyes trained on Adam’s deep indigo ones clearly trapped in a past horror.

“I can’t listen to this story again. I’m sorry but I can’t.” Ollie whispered suddenly, pulling away from his husband, “I got to meet Blaine for the first time the summer after Sadie Hawkins and it was like he was in purgatory. I don’t want to go back to thinking of that scared, lost little kid as being my little short stuff again.”

Jude nodded, pulling Ollie close once more and pecking his forehead lightly. “Go to bed babe. I’ll be in soon, but I think I should stay with Kurt for this, and he does need to hear this.”

Ollie gripped Jude’s hand once tightly, chewing on his bottom lip as he started to back away from the trio. His eyes caught on Kurt’s scared looking ones and he managed to smile reassuringly before turning to hurry to his and Jude’s room.

Adam took a deep breath, leaning forwards in his seat again as Jude held Kurt tightly, his own apprehension showing in the way he was clutching the sleeve of the hoodie Kurt was wearing.

* * *

_The sandy haired boy gasped for breath as he sprinted through the glass double doors. Letting them bang shut behind him, he felt the small smirk of satisfaction spread across his face as numerous jocks slammed straight into them, giving him ample time to hide between two of the dumpsters they were so fond of shoving him into._

_Crouching low, he breathed a sigh of relief as the group of jocks sprinted down the sidewalk that he’d normally take home. If he spent an hour or two hiding out in the library before heading home he figured that he’s be fine. Standing back to his full height the high school senior gently brushed off his pants and rearranged the satchel hanging from his shoulder. Shaking his head at the jocks that he had learnt to put up with during his junior year and the first few weeks of his senior year spent living with his Aunt and Uncle in the States he couldn’t help but marvel at the idiocy that they appeared to display without even realising it at times._

_Turning to leave, he paused, his head cocking to the side at a banging and faint whimpering of 'let me out’ emanating from the larger dumpster. Eyes widening, he flung the lid open, jumping back when a young teenager popped up, practically hyperventilating with the need to breathe fresh air. Noticing Adam staring at him, his golden eyes turned darker and widened in fear._

“ _Get away from me!” The trapped boy yelled, glaring and brushing his wild curls away from his face, backing up as far as he could in the relatively large dumpster._

_Adam’s hands flew up, a surprised look overtaking his features at the hostility rolling off of the younger teenager, “Whoa calm down kid. I’m not going to hurt you.”_

“ _I’ll scream,” The younger boy muttered, his hazel eyes still hard._

_Rolling his blue eyes, an easy smirk filtered across Adam’s features, “Yeah, because that’s worked out real well for you so far. Come on short stuff reach over and I’ll pull you out.”_

“ _I don’t need your help and I’m not that short.” The boy growled, looking about as fierce as a wounded puppy and causing Adam to bite his lip to stop any laughter flowing out._

“ _Kid, I can barely see you over the top of the bin, you must be like hobbit size. Now give over and give me your hands.”_

“ _And you won’t hurt me? Besides what the hell is a bin?” Adam’s heart broke a little at the vulnerability in his gaze before a small smile took over his face once more and he shook his head with a soft sigh, his green beanie almost flying from head._

_Using one hand to straighten the beanie once more he appraised the boy carefully. “Bloody Americans, bin as in rubbish bin. It’s a trashcan in other words. I won’t hurt you, scouts honour.” Holding up his hand in the honour sign he chuckled quietly._

“ _You’re in America Brit,” The tiny kid muttered, his eyes narrowed._

_Adam simply rolled his eyes again, letting the laughter flow easily this time. “Yeah, yeah and I’ll get the language down eventually now get over here.” Reaching out his arms, he smiled when the teenager moved into them and instantly put his hands under the boys arms, letting him walk up the side of the dumpster until Adam could fully lift him out, the pair ending up tumbling to the floor. “Oof well compromising situation here, slightly awkward,” The oldest of the pair muttered, gently pushing the hazel eyed teen back from where he was now straddling his waist._

_He scrambled back, pressing himself against the dumpster, eyes wide with fright. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”_

_Hands flying up again to show he wasn’t a danger Adam exhaled heavily, realising that it could take a while for this kid to trust him. “Hey calm down I said I wouldn’t hurt you and I’m not going to. What’s your name anyway?”_

“ _Blaine. Blaine Anderson.”_

“ _Well Blaine Anderson I’m Adam Crawford and it is very nice to meet you.”_

_Blaine’s eyes narrowed again, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Were you ever even a boy scout?”_

“ _Nope, but it got you to trust me enough to get you out of the bin didn’t it? What were you doing in there anyway?” Adam chuckled, wincing and pulling part of a banana skin from Blaine’s curls._

_Blaine pulled a disgusted face as Adam threw it back into the dumpster, “As if I had a choice. The jocks threw me in, well umm, because, umm because I’m gay.” Adam’s eyes trebled in size while Blaine skilfully avoided any eye contact. “Go on you can leave now.”_

“ _And why would I want to do that?” Adam’s eyebrow quirked up, trying to catch the eyes of the teenager who was desperately trying to evade his gaze._

_The younger teenager’s head snapped up, shock and wonderment flashing through his eyes before schooling them into a more neutral expression once more. “B..because I’m gay? Aren’t you scared you’re going to catch something?”_

_Sighing, the blue eyed senior shook his head at the freshman, horrified that someone so young could already feel as low as he seemed to about himself. “Can’t catch what you already have…besides being gay isn’t something that you catch Blaine, it’s a part of who you are. Now come on, the jocks have all left and I have a spare hoodie and my track pants so how abouts we get you a shower and head out for milkshakes and burgers?”_

* * *

“That was the first time I met Blaine,” Adam sighed sadly, eyes flickering over both Kurt, who simply looked horrified, and Jude, who looked conflicted between hurt that he hadn’t been there to help his baby brother and the utter need to find the guys’ who had dared to hurt him and rip their heads off, pretty much any of the Anderson brothers’ reactions when Westerville Central High School was mentioned. “I’m sad to say that it wasn’t the last time I found him in those dumpsters or trapped in a locker, not by a long shot. I found him in them far more than I care to share over the following two and a half months but damn he became my best friend. Probably the best one I’ve ever had. He just understood in a way others didn’t. Yankee Doodle just has a way of worming his way into your heart and then not letting go.”

Kurt’s brow furrowed slightly, “But what does that have to do with Sadie Hawkins?”

Adam smiled sadly and shrugged. “I figured it would be best if you had a little background to mine and Blaine’s friendship before I launched into that. Westerville Central High wasn’t exactly the best place on the planet to be as an out gay teenager and things just got worse at Sadie Hawkins.” Jude’s arm wrapped tighter around Kurt’s shoulders as he nodded for Adam to continue.

* * *

“ _Hi Yankee Doodle,” Adam sang as he danced into Blaine’s room having let himself into the large Anderson mansion._

“ _Stop calling me that,” Blaine muttered, his eyes staring intently at his laptop screen, his feet kicking up in the air behind his head._

_Adam’s eyebrow raised as he dropped his satchel by the door and launched himself across the room, “Stop calling me Brit.”_

“ _Never Essex boy.” Blaine laughed rolling onto his back as Adam crawled onto the bed beside him, Blaine automatically resting his head on Adam’s shoulder when the older teenager drew him close and heaving the laptop onto his chest._

“ _Well then you have your answer, Yankee Doodle,” The British native chuckled lightly._

“ _Eurgh you are impossible,” Blaine whined, attempting to hit his human cushion._

_Smirking, the sandy haired boy shook his head, “I learnt from the best.”_

“ _Pippin?”_

“ _Exactly. Now what you looking at?”_

“ _Nothing,” Blaine squeaked, turning red as he tried to roll out of Adam’s firm grip and slam the laptop closed._

“ _Tuxes? B, what’s going on?”_

_Blaine sighed, “For once in my life I just want to feel normal. I just want to go to that stupid Sadie Hawkins dance like everybody else and have a good time like any normal person.”_

_Adam snorted lightly, ruffling Blaine’s messy curls. “Pffft who wants to be normal when you can be the extraordinary Blaine Anderson?”_

_Blaine just turned away with a sigh, his legs slipping over the edge of the bed._

_The senior followed his movements, kneeling up behind the younger teenager. “Hey, you’re genuinely upset over this aren’t you Yankee Doodle?”_

_Blaine cracked a small smile but let Adam pull him back onto the bed nonetheless. “Yeah, it’s stupid I know. I just want to be normal for one night Ads.”_

“ _It’s not stupid at all but screw normal, if we’re doing this we’re doing it our way, like I said who the hell wants to be normal?”_

“ _Adam?” Blaine looked genuinely bemused, his head tilted and eyebrows shot upwards into his hairline as Adam started to laugh._

“ _Blaine Anderson will you accompany me to the Sadie Hawkins dance as my best friend whereby we can drink undoubtedly sabotaged punch and laugh at the dresses that some of the girls deem acceptable for a high school dance.”_

_The hazel eyed boy’s entire expression lit up and he let out a small squeal, “You really mean it?”_

_Laughing Adam nodded, glad to have made Blaine light up again. “I really do. I mean I haven’t been to a dance since I’ve been here and England’s not that big on them really so why not? And with you by my side I shall be invincible.”_

_Blaine scoffed laughing slightly before flinging himself into Adam’s arms, “Thank you, Brit.”_

“ _You are most welcome Yankee Doodle.” Adam returned the hug just as fiercely, feeling the surge of protectiveness that always rushed through him when Blaine was near._

_Blaine pulled back suddenly, Adam coughing as he got a mouthful of curls. “Wait, wait, wait. This doesn’t mean anything right? I mean I love you Brit, but more like another brother, sorry but I really don’t think of you like that I mean ewwie.”_

“ _Well thanks for the confidence boost there Yankee Doodle, but nah I know what you mean it would be weird. I love you and all but no thank you. So yeah, we go as friends. Also ewwwie? What are you five?”_

“ _Best friends,” Blaine corrected, “And I just turned six actually.”_

“ _Best friends.”_

* * *

“ _That was so much fun!” Blaine squealed, jumping up and down on the balls of his feet and clutching Adam’s hand tightly in his, a grin spreading across his face in the moonlight. “I mean can you believe it Adam? A whole dance and nobody said anything,” The younger teenager giggled softly, Adam spinning him in a circle before swinging their hands between them, laughing along gently as Blaine’s face turned to one of disgust, “But oh my god, did you see Stacey’s dress? I mean what the hell possessed her to even think that dress would look good? Tacky, tacky, tacky.”_

_Adam snorted, shaking his head at the overly excited freshman. “Jeez Yankee Doodle, you would think I’d actually let you at that punch the energy rolling off of you.” The senior tilted his head thoughtfully, twinkling eyes never once leaving his friend. “Although I’ll give you her dress was tacky, but when did you start judging fashion?”_

_Rolling his eyes, the curly haired boy shrugged, “Puh-lease anyone with eyes could see that lemon meringue thing she thought was acceptable was a mistake. Also do you realise how much 'America’s Next Top Model’ you make me watch?”_

“ _Pfft, that show is amazing and you know it,” Adam laughed, slinging an arm around Blaine’s shoulders. “I’m sorry my Aunt and Uncle were called out of the country and couldn’t pick us up,” He frowned slightly, eyes darting around the dark car park._

“ _It’s fine Brit, it’s not like they left us totally alone, they hired that car service after all.”_

“ _Hmm true,” Adam sighed his eyes still scanning the car park for any sign of their car. Stiffening when he saw a shape move in the shadow, Adam slowly moved his arm from Blaine’s shoulder and took his hand once more, gently pushing the younger boy behind him._

“ _Adam, what’s-”_

“ _Sshh Blaine,” He muttered feeling the younger boy start to tremble. His blue eyes kept trained on the shadow as five bulky figures moved into the light cast by the streetlight._

“ _Adam, that’s-”_

“ _Blaine quiet,” Adam growled sharply, cutting the younger boy off as he started to whimper quietly behind him. “It’s going to be okay, I promise that I won’t let anything happen to you,” He whispered, his voice losing its sharp tone._

“ _You really thought that we’d let you get away with it?” The leader sneered as the others chuckled softly, fanning themselves around the pair. Blaine’s shaking increased as he effectively moulded himself into Adam’s back, the older boy closing his eyes slightly in fear before snapping them back open to glare at the hulking football player stood smirking in front of him. “You really thought that we’d let the two of you get away with that faggy display right in front of the whole school? Seriously how disgusting do you have to be to actually flaunt how wrong you are?”_

“ _Leave us alone Richardson we did nothing to you,” Adam barked out, his ice blue eyes flickering around the group of seniors that had them surrounded. “All we did was go to the stupid dance, we didn’t come anywhere near any of you. We just danced together and had fun by ourselves.”_

“ _Exactly. You were there, together. It’s disgusting and it’s wrong,” One of the cronies piped in staring Adam down when the blue eyed teens eyed flickered over to him._

“ _Yeah it’s Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve,” Another chimed in with a scoff._

“ _Oh you’re god damn religious and you’ve read the Bible now have you?” Adam hissed, “Well then you must be under the assumption that god creates everyone you dipshit so then yeah he did create Steve too you moron.” Adam smirked, momentarily proud of the look of utter confusion on the jock’s face before Blaine whimpered again, Adam’s head whipping around to glare at the boy now behind the duo, stepping ever closer to the young freshman._

“ _You’re lucky that the soccer team needs you if they have any hope in hell of winning anything this year Crawford or I’d take great pleasure in pounding that faggy little face of yours into the concrete. As it is I think we’ll save tonight just for Blanderson and teach him a lesson about stepping foot on our campus.” The leader smirked again, cracking his knuckles as he stepped forward._

_Blaine whimpered, the hand clutching Adam’s own tightening its grasp exponentially while his other hand twisted up in the back of the older teenager’s jacket, his face buried between his shoulder blades. Adam reached his spare arm around Blaine’s back, trying to squeeze the hand grasping his comfortingly as he glared the five burly seniors down. “If you think I’m going to let you get anywhere near him you have another god damn thing coming,” The sandy haired boy growled, wincing when his friend whimpered and shuffled closer still._

_The leader of the pack chuckled dryly, “Crawford, Crawford, Crawford,” He muttered shaking his head. “What the fuck makes you think you’re going to get an option in that?” Glancing to two of the guys he smirked and tilting his head, “Get him out of the way, yeah?”_

_Instantly the two surged forwards, grabbing Adam’s arms and yanking him away from Blaine even as the blue eyed senior yelped and flailed, yelling for Blaine to run even as a fist collided with his own forehead, the football player’s class ring slicing open his forehead with the collision._

“ _Careful with him, Coach Dayton will come down on us like a ton of bricks if we injure his star player,” Richardson snickered, moving to the player who had captured Blaine when he had tried to run back towards the dance. “Oh Anderson, we’ve been looking forward to this,” He laughed, instantly aiming the first punch for Blaine’s face even as the freshman tried to wriggle and kick out of the bigger boy’s hold._

_Crying out in pain, Blaine tried to ignore Adam’s screams and yells of frustration as Richardson and the football player yet to do anything started to rain punches and kicks down on just about every inch of his body, the player holding him grunting in pain when few landed on him accidentally. Blaine watched Adam struggle through hooded eyes as he managed to almost get away only to have his arm twisted painfully. At the same moment Blaine felt the powerful arms holding him let go, his head whacking off of the floor with a sickening crack, blood pouring over his already clouded vision as his eyes started to close. He managed to mouth the word 'sorry’ to his sandy haired friend before they shut completely, Adam’s screams still ringing in his ears._

_Adam watched on horrified as the three continued to beat on the unconscious boy, stamping on and kicking at his right leg and his ribs in particular, the curly haired boy having simply stopped moving._

“ _Jerry, this has gone too far,” One of the footballers holding Adam whimpered, scared eyes trained on Blaine’s battered form._

“ _Yeah Richardson, I’m out. He looks dead,” The other one muttered, dropping Adam’s left side and letting him fall to a sobbing mess on the floor as the football players appeared to take one last look at their handy work and scarpered into the night._

“ _Blaine,” Adam moaned, clutching his arm to himself as he crawled across the small space to the still boy. “Blaine please, god please wake up,” He sobbed, managing to pull Blaine’s bleeding head onto his lap, trying not to look at the strange angle of the curly haired boy’s leg or the blood staining the concrete. “HELP, PLEASE GOD HELP US,” He started to scream, pausing to catch his breath before screaming again, attempting to brush Blaine’s curls away from his black and blue face with trembling hands as he noticed the crimson now staining his too pale skin. “HELP!”_

* * *

“ _Cooper, Cooper I’m so sorry. I tried to make them stop, I tried I did. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry,” Adam sobbed and stuttered his words and breath failing as he started to hyperventilate._

“ _Ads you need to calm down and let me know what happened kid, you’re starting to scare me.”_

_Adam sobbed, clutching the phone tighter, “They hurt him Cooper. They hurt Blaine. It’s really bad Coop please, you need to get back here, as soon as you can. It’s bad Cooper, it’s so, so bad.” The teenager trembled as he heard Cooper’s breath catch on the other end of the line, the shaking worsening as two nurses advanced towards him._

“ _Okay, Adam you need to calm down, are you listening kid?”_

“ _Okay,” He whispered, one of the nurses sitting at his side and running a gentle hand up his back._

“ _I’m booking a flight now and I will be there as soon as I can be which will probably be in the early hours. You make sure that you get yourself checked out and then if you don’t need to be kept in make them let you stay in Blaine’s room until I get there, unless you think your Aunt and Uncle will get there first?”_

“ _They’re in England.”_

_Cooper sighed shakily down the line, “Well then stay in Blaine’s room and if they try to kick you out have them phone me or Elijah. I’ll make him stay at his place until I’m in Ohio and on the way to you just in case the doctors or anyone need to speak to someone. And Adam, thank you. I know that you’ll have tried to stop whatever happened so thank you and stop blaming yourself.”_

_The teenager whimpered softly, curling into the auburn haired nurse still sat with him, “I’m sorry Cooper, it was all my-”_

“ _Don’t you dare finish that sentence Adam Crawford, you got me? Blaine wouldn’t have gotten through the last few months without you and you know that. I’ll see you soon kid, look after him for me.”_

_Adam whimpered harshly when the phone cut out, turning and burrowing his face into the nurses shoulder, her hand still running up and down his back soothingly, the tears coursing down his face staining her lilac scrubs. “You poor kids,” She murmured, tugging him tighter. “I have a son a year older than your boyfriend and believe me seeing this is awful, I’m so sorry.”_

“ _He’s not my boyfriend, just my best friend,” Adam mumbled, swallowing loudly, “Is Blaine going to be okay?” He whispered, lifting his face to scan her worried green eyes._

_She sighed gently, squeezing his shoulder, “He’s slipped into a coma at the minute I’m afraid, and it’s just up to his body if or when he’s healed enough to wake up. For now, everything that can be done has been.”_

_Adam nodded solemnly, “Can I go and sit with him?”_

“ _Of course honey, I heard that phone call,” She smiled softly at him, “Seems like you’re very close to the whole family. He’s in room 206, but how about I check you over first? Hmm, that looks like a pretty nasty cut on your forehead.” Taking his hand, she led him carefully through the busy ER into a private side room, slipping him something to help his trembling at the same time._

* * *

“Af-after everything, Blaine wasn’t the same person,” Adam whispered, the tears coursing down his cheeks as he scrubbed at his red raw eyes. “He never has been again, he’s been getting there over the last two or so years but his true dorkiness is only just starting to show up now. It’s a work in progress but you Kurt,” Adam laughed softly, “You did something not one of us managed to do.”

“Me?” Surprise painted itself across Kurt’s face as he tilted his head to study Adam curiously.

“Yeah, you started to bring back Blaine pre-Sadie Hawkins. You have no idea how stunned I was the first time he was sarcastic to me or the pure size of the grin on his face the first holiday I made it back to Ohio after he met you, it was insane. I think you did more for Yankee Doodle than you’ve ever known you did or that you will ever realise you did. You saved Blaine from himself effectively. We’d all been trying for months to get the grin back on his face and the bounce back in his step, but meeting you, that’s what did it effectively.”

Jude nodded slowly, a slight realisation dawning on his face. “He’s right you know. B, he had a really hard time before he met you Kurt. I mean he was getting better, slowly, but meeting you seemed to just accelerate anything the Warblers and Dalton were already doing by god knows what levels.”

“So you and Blaine…” Kurt trailed off, wringing his hands slightly and nerves flashing through his eyes as they flickered back over to look at Adam.

“Blaine will always be the first guy I ever truly loved.” Adam admitted softly, taking a deep breath and trying not to laugh a little when the worry lit up once more in Kurt’s sapphire eyes, “He helped me be myself and he will always hold a special place in my heart, forever, but he’s more of my little brother than anything else really if I’m totally honest.” Grinning at Kurt he shrugged slightly, “Besides that, I just told you of Blaine’s reaction of and I quote 'ew ew ew ewwie’ at the thought of us even going to a dance as dates.”

“Fair enough,” Kurt smiled softly, “I just wish neither of you had ever had to go through any of that.”

“Me and you both Kurt, me and you both. As awful as it sounds the whole thing brought me closer to a family I never thought I’d have and now I have people to go to when I need them,” Adam smiled gently, eyes dancing over to Jude whose arm was still wrapped tightly around Kurt’s shoulder, tears drying in tracks down his face.

The curly haired college senior turned his head to look Kurt directly in the eye, a mischievous twinkle flickering in his. “Yeah we let Austin and Pippin indoctrinate him into the craziness,” Jude grinned, Adam shooting him the finger even as Kurt burst out laughing. Laughing as Kurt yawned widely, Jude hugged him close before releasing him, “Right, bed time for everyone I’m exhausted.” Ruffling Kurt’s hair, the twenty two year old grinned and flounced down the corridor to where his husband was already waiting for him.

Standing and stretching, Kurt smiled softly at Adam and turned to follow Jude up the corridor before stopping suddenly and leaning on the doorframe, turning back around the study the sandy haired young man still in the room. “Hey Adam?”

“Yeah Kurt?” He yawned, pulling his keys, phone and wallet from his pockets and laying them out on the table. He smiled faintly at the teenager who appeared to be deep in thought and grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch, bundling it up next to his pillow as he turned his full attention to Kurt.

“Thank you for being there for him.” Adam’s eyes roamed over the teenager, the confusion in them evident. “Before I was I mean. You were there when he had no one,” Kurt whispered, a soft flush covering his cheeks, tainting them pink.

Adam grinned, his eyes flickering to a picture in his wallet. A fourteen year old Blaine was the main focus of the picture, his curls wild and crazy, which had been the customary hairstyle for the young teenager at the time. Pink square framed sunglasses covered his large hazel eyes and an easy grin was spread across his face, glancing at the camera from where he was flying up into the air, a carefree element to his blissful features. Meanwhile a young Adam stood behind him, hands in the back pockets of his stonewash jeans and a blush covering his face, laughing at the boy flying away from him on the swing. “Believe me that was nothing. Blaine is a very easy person to love.”

“Yeah, yeah he is,” Kurt beamed, his own picture of Blaine forming in his mind.

“Goodnight Kurt.”

“Night Adam.”

 


	7. Into The Fire

Vincent Anderson crashed through the front doors of the Anderson mansion a snarl leaving his lips as his hands balled into fists of anger. Spotting his two youngest sons hovering on the bottom step of the family’s grand staircase looking nervous, he let loose a low growl before stomping towards them. His stony faced wife followed close behind, her husband’s briefcase clasped tightly in her two hands as she glanced impassively to the two young men in front of them.

The older man grabbed his youngest son by his collar and pulled him round to look at him, getting right into his face. “What did you do to Julian?”

“D-d-dad, I d-didn’t d-d-do anything t-to J-J-Jud-de,” Blaine stuttered, his hazel eyes wide in terror as his Father all but lifted him by the collar of his shirt.

 

“Don’t lie to me boy,” He snarled furiously, spit flying from his mouth making Blaine wince further. “He’s living with a boy, in some kind of disgusting relationship with him. One of my colleagues had to watch the immorality of that sickening ‘relationship’ walk down the streets of New York together; did you really not think that I’d find out that you were spreading this filth amongst your brothers’? So I will ask you again, what did you do to Julian?”

“N-n-n-nothing.”

“This is all your fault Blaine Devon Anderson,” Vincent sneered, glaring at Blaine. “All your fault.”

Bentley watched on in horror as his Father formed a fist slamming it into Blaine’s face, the young boy crumpling under the pressure out cold.

Hearing his other son’s squeak of horror from the stairs Vincent turned to look at Bentley, lip curling upwards in disgust. “You’re all vermin, the lot of you. Virginia we’re leaving, we need to pay a visit to New York.”

Shaking as he watched his parent’s storm out of the front door mere moments after making their grand entrance, Bentley’s lip quivered as he turned to look at his twin slumped against the wall at the bottom of the stairs. “Blaine?” He whimpered, edging closer to his unconscious sibling. “B? Please wake up,” He murmured, manoeuvring himself so that Blaine’s head was in his lap. Gently, he ran trembling fingers through Blaine’s soft curls, pulling his phone from his back pocket he dialled the first number his fingers came across. “Come on Coop, pick up, pick up, we need you.”

Whimpering when the phone rang through to voicemail, Bentley hurriedly hung up, fighting the urge to fling the phone across the room. Glancing to Blaine, the older twin smiled gently when he heard the groan that meant the younger boy was coming round, taking a steadying breath before trying another number.

* * *

Elijah smiled, accepting his coffee to go from the miserable faced woman at the Starbucks with a sweet smile before scarpering quickly out onto the hurried streets of Seattle, tugging his obnoxiously loud phone out of his pocket with a wince. Pulling his hood up and scowling at the grey sky, the paediatrics resident found himself coming to an abrupt halt, quickly apologising and stepping out of the way of the crowds at the sound of his younger brother’s hysterical voice. “Benny, Benny I need you to calm down kid. Bentley come on kiddo, you’re speaking with a pitch only dogs can currently understand. I need you to calm down and slow down and explain to me properly what’s wrong with you and Blaine.”

Feeling the colour drain from his face as Bentley hastily explained what had happened Elijah leaned on the building for support, fighting to keep tears at bay at the thought of his two youngest brothers’ alone and scared on the other side of the country. Running a hand through his relatively short hair, the young man took a deep, steadying breath before turning on his heel and heading back to his apartment.

“Right Benny, here’s what I need you to do, okay? Listen to me. I need you to call Burt Hummel and I need the pair of you to go to the Hummel’s and wait this out there, somehow I can’t see this ending well.” Smiling softly to his neighbour who held the door for him, he rushed past her and all but sprinted up the stairs to his apartment. “I’m going to try and get a flight out as soon as I can, we’re just lucky I’m off this week. Phone Burt straight away though, yeah? You two need someone there and I’m at least six hours out and that’s if I get a flight almost straight away.”

Laughing gently when Bentley’s hysteria returned for a completely different reason, Elijah shook his head slightly. “The two of you are not ruining my week off Benny. You’re my brothers’, family come first right? I love you guys’ and I’ll be there as soon as possible. Do me a favour and phone Jude or Ollie to warn them of the impending storm on their end too though, yeah? Okay, see you soon kiddo, bye.”

Hanging up the phone with a heavy heart, Elijah ran his hands over his face sighing heavily. With a shrug, he slung his purple duffel bag over one shoulder and made his way from the apartment once more, coffee long forgotten about on his bedside table.

* * *

“Hey Benny,” Jude called cheerfully down the line, curling tighter into Ollie’s side where they were marathoning 'Grey’s Anatomy’ on their couch and just generally having a lazy Sunday.

“Jude,” The little voice trembled from a few states away.

Sitting up straight, Jude squeezed Ollie’s hand when he whined in protest but quickly diverted his full attention to his younger brother. “What’s wrong?”

“They know.”

“What?” Jude’s face scrunched up in confusion, Ollie sitting up beside him with a concerned expression. “Benny what do you mean? Who knows what?”

“Mother and Father. They know about you and Ollie, one of Father’s colleagues saw the two of you out in New York.”

Jude heard more than felt the phone fall to the ground, his expression going slack as Benny’s words rang through his mind on repeat.  _They know about you and Ollie, they know about you and Ollie, they know about you and Ollie_.

“Okay, thanks Benny. No I’ll make sure he gets through this, I promise. Thanks for the heads up,” Carefully hanging up Jude’s phone and placing it on the coffee table in front of the pair, Ollie tenderly reached out to take the curly haired mans hand, trying not to wince when he felt Jude flinch away from him. “Babe, come on, you’re okay, we’ll get through this together, we’ll be okay. Everything will be okay.”

“How can you say that?” Jude cried hysterically, turning to look at the blue eyed man, “There’s no telling what they’ll do.”

Ollie frowned, drawing Jude onto his lap and trying to calm him down, thankful but still fretful when the older man finally fell into a fitful sleep. Drawing out his own phone, the young man managed to phone reinforcements that he prayed would be in New York in time for whatever would play out when the Anderson parents inevitably arrived.

* * *

Bentley had barely pulled his custom built dark blue Porsche Cayenne Turbo SUV at the Hummel residence when the front door flew open, Burt and Carole hurrying down to the car while Sam and Finn hovered nervously in the doorway. Glancing to Blaine, the older twin smiled softly before flinging his door open and finding himself engulfed in a hug by Carole, Burt automatically rushing around to Blaine’s side of the car, inspecting the damage to the teenager’s cheek.

“It’ll be a nice shiner for you in the morning but for now there’s nothing much we can do kid,” Burt murmured sadly, wrapping an arm around Blaine’s shoulder and following Carole and Bentley up the path to the house. Glancing back at the car as Bentley remote locked it, Burt shook his head incredulously, letting out a low whistle. “You boys don’t go cheap on cars like do ya? I mean I’m well aware that Blaine’s would’ve easily set him back a good $156,000 or more with all those custom designs he’s got going on, but damn Bentley.”

Both boys’ blushed looking sheepish as they were ushered into the kitchen, Carole pulling out a cold compress as the twins and Burt settled around the small family table.

Blaine fidgeted uncomfortably, clutching at the compress when it slipped and Carole shot him a look. “It’s another stipulation of our damn trust funds.”

Smiling softly, Bentley happily accepted the can of 'Diet Coke’ from Carole as she flitted around each of the twins nervously. “We each get $200,000 to spend on cars when we hit 16, as a 'starter car’.” The twins pulled dismayed faces, unable to comprehend themselves the money that the Anderson estate held at its disposal. “Whatever we don’t spend goes back into the family trust fund for what we figured out was our parent’s usage.”

Blaine snorted ungracefully, “And since none of us particularly felt like giving our homophobic, racist, sexist parents even more money to play around with, we each vowed too sped as much as we could.”

“It’s also no good for us because I hate to say there’s no chance of going backwards from this point.”

“Hence Cooper’s Ferrari, Lucas’ Aston Martin and Pippin’s Audi TT and that’s just a few of the cars that are currently making rounds in this family.”

“That’s not even mentioning Austin’s baby the Lamborghini,” Bentley grinned, remembering just before Christmas when he was certain Austin was going to have his head when he caught him leaning on the yellow car.

Blaine shook his head affectionately, “Boy’s going to be poor by the time he hits 25.”

Bursting out laughing, Bentley shook his head, “Nah you’re forgetting the extra $1 million we get to get a 'nicer’ car at 21. Once more what we don’t spend goes back to our parents hence the top of the range stuff.”

“Benny actually managed to get the closest out of all of us with his selection. Mother and Father only got around $200 back from his. I’ve never seen them more stunned.”

Burt chuckled gently, feeling a rush of glee at the thought of the oldest Anderson’s faces when their young son had little to nothing to give back to them. “Aah well very nicely done. Do you boys know what you’re going to do with your trust funds when you get them?”

Bentley huffed, slouching in his chair with a moody shrug, “No idea. Nobody needs two million dollars it’s ridiculous.”

“Four million when we hit twenty-one,” Blaine muttered, the blush covering his face informing Burt to just how much the young boy hated to talk of his inheritance.

Burt eyed each of the twins up separately taking in Blaine’s evident desire to drop the subject from the way in which he was staring resolutely at the tiled floor, a pink hue still colouring his cheeks. Bentley meanwhile was staring defiantly at Burt, his arms crossed across his chest defensively and shoulders slouched giving away his true feelings of the situation. “You know that money will go to good use boys’,” Burt smiled gently at each of them, his smile growing when he caught Blaine side eyeing him with a typical 'I’m listening but I’m going to pretend I’m not’ look attached to his face. “It can pay off your college, buy your future home, weddings, children and more. I know with your family line it may feel like a curse at times, but it truly will be a blessing when it comes to the future, I can guarantee you that. And who can say at seventeen that they can secure their any family they may haves future?”

The older twin barked out a slight laugh at that, “Oh our Grandfather made damn sure of that alright. Bearing in mind our Father is an only child; he effectively gained the full trust fund for his generation, which Cooper would’ve gained had we all not been born. The further the generation from our Grandfather however the bigger the trust-fund. Well at least for our children and our children’s children, after that the trust-fund money kind of dries up. But if only one of us has one child, which is never going to happen let’s be honest, then that child will automatically gain twenty million dollars on their eighteenth and another twenty million on their twenty first. The money effectively doubles with each generation until like I said our grandkids. However, any trust money that we do not spend during our lifetimes, and I have absolutely no idea how the lawyers tell what is what, will go back into the trust for future generations. Then there’s the car fund, but I really don’t understand how that works if I’m honest.”

Paling considerably, the older man gaped slightly, “Jesus, just how rich is your family?”

Both boys’ laughed bitterly. “Richer than any man should be in my honest opinion when you have people like our Father who fritter it all away without any good actually coming out of it.” Blaine shook his head sadly.

“It still means though that you can set up yourselves and your families for life,” Burt smiled gently.

Bentley shook his head slightly, his gaze flickering up to Blaine who was still staring resolutely at the floor. Folding his hands on the table, the elder twin focused on his twiddling thumbs, “We’ve talked about it though and we don’t see the point in that. We’re young and healthy and we want to work, granted in industries that may be hard to get into in Blaine’s case. But we just don’t see the point in sitting around all day doing nothing but having a massive wad of cash in the bank, we’ve seen what that does to people, hell we grew up with it. There are at least three or four charity ideas that we think are both viable and worth it, so we’re pretty sure we’re going to set those up once we get settled into colleges. I mean we’re not entirely sure that the money was all made in exactly righteous ways, so there has to be something that we can give back.”

Shaking his head in slight awe of the two young teenagers in front of him, Burt smiled fondly, “I’m proud of you boys’.”

Both boys’ heads snapped up to gawk at Burt, their eyes wide and mouths dropped in wonderment. “No adult’s ever said that before,” Blaine whispered quietly, Bentley simply staring at Burt in awe.

Burt felt his heart break as he shuffled in his seat, clearing his throat before looking back to Blaine once more. “How’re you feeling about the everything going on kid?”

“Honestly?” Blaine queried, smiling softly at Sam and Finn who had started to hover in the doorway to the kitchen, “I’m just tired of it all. I mean Kurt’s right, realistically if they can’t accept me for who I am then I really don’t need them. I just hope that Jude can see that too.”

“Kurt usually is right,” Burt rolled his eyes while Blaine laughed, “But never tell him I said that.”

“Of course not sir.”

“Blaine,” Burt yelled after the cackling teenager now being pulled up the stairs by Sam, eager to start a four way 'Call of Duty’ game now he had extra players for the night, but also knowing it would take Blaine and Bentley’s minds off of what had just happened if they could beat him and Finn a couple of times.

Burt sighed, dropping his head to his hands as Carole appeared back in the doorway, a small, sad smile playing on her lips. “Penny for your thoughts?” Grabbing his hand, she pulled him through to the front room.

Sighing again, the older man collapsed onto the couch, smiling when he felt his wife sit beside him, “I just don’t get it. How do you treat your children like that? I could never, never act like that to Kurt. I could never hit or belittle him or make him feel as crap as they make those boys’ feel ever and especially not for just being who he is.”

Carole shook her head softly, playing gently with the fingers of Burt’s hand that she was still holding. “Some people just aren’t meant to have children sweetheart, the Anderson’s sadly are among those types of people.” Smiling slightly, she looked up at Burt, her eyes shining with pride in what she now considered to be her family, “But somehow those boys’ have all managed to raise each other into polite, accepting, strong willed young men and that’s something to be forever thankful for.”

“True. I don’t want the twins going back to that house though.”

“Well they’re welcome to stay here as long as they want to. I’m sure that we can clear out the spare room for them, but we need to speak to them and Cooper before we sort anything out,” Tilting her head slightly to the side, Carole started to imagine bunk beds in the room and couldn’t help but wonder how long it would be until they could inevitably get the twins out of the cold hearted, lifeless mansion they were currently living in.

“I knew there was a reason that I married you,” Burt laughed, kissing Carole gently, “I love you.”

“I love you too, and someone had to be the brains of this marriage.”

“Hey! Who was the one who said we’d need the five bedroomed house?”

Carole laughed loudly, “How in the world was I supposed to know that we’d get an influx of teenage boys’ needing rooms? First Sam’s family moving back to Kentucky again, now the twins…”

“You wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Looking slightly affronted, Carole shook her head with a grin. “Of course not, I love all of my boys’, despite the fact that they all seem to eat us out of house and home on a daily basis.”

Huffing out a small laugh, Burt pulled Carole closer still, flicking on the television and chuckling at the whoops and hollers sounding down the stairs, Blaine and Finn evidently making a better team than Sam and Bentley. Sighing gently, he leaned his head on his wife’s and settled in to watch the show she had flicked on, ready to tackle the impending storm should it arrive once more.

The loud knocking on the front door startled the pair of them from the quiet gameshow, heavy footsteps sounding on the stairs behind them as the door flung open to reveal a flustered looking Elijah. Blaine and Bentley rushing through the room and all but diving into Elijah’s waiting arms, their older brother holding them tightly, pressing a kiss to each of their curls where their heads were buried against his neck.

* * *

The rapid knocking at the door only seemed to confirm Jude’s worst fears that his parents had not forgotten all about their threats of a visit to New York the previous day. Shooting a nervous look to Ollie and Kurt, he took a deep breath at Ollie’s encouraging smile and went to open the door, his hands shaking as his Father burst past him, pushing into the main room of the apartment, his mother following closely behind after throwing a look at Jude.

“You!” Vincent Anderson roared, pointing at Kurt who simply raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms across his chest.

“It’s lovely to see you again too Mr Anderson,” The blue eyed teenager smiled tightly, ignoring Ollie’s gaping look at the way in which he was clearly already getting under the oldest Anderson’s skin.

“What do you think you’re doing here?” The dark haired man sneered, his cold eyes never once leaving the unflinching young boy.

“Supporting my friends’ and future family when they clearly need it,” Kurt answered, determined not to let Vincent Anderson see just how wound up he was by the man.

“That won’t be necessary,” Vivian snarled, her disgusted expression roaming over Kurt to settle on Ollie, “Julian is going to come with us right now and he will have nothing more to do with either of you.”

“What?” Jude squeaked, finally looking up from the floor where his eyes had been solidly trained since his parents had walked through the front door moments earlier.

“Jude’s not going anywhere with you,” Ollie bristled, shrugging Kurt’s calming hand from his shoulder. “He’s exactly where he belongs with his true family. You haven’t even talked to him since last September for god’s sake.”

“Aah, so you must be the one that Julian’s whoring himself too,” Vincent smirked, eyes sparkling when Ollie launched himself forward, Kurt only just managing to grab him and drag him backwards.

Kurt wrapped his arms around Ollie’s heaving chest, leaning up to whisper in his ear. “He’s not worth it Oliver. Leave it be, just look at him; he’s getting exactly what he wants by riling you up. You’re no good to Jude if you wind up in jail facing assault charges because of that asshole.”

Ollie nodded carefully, his hard gaze not once leaving Vincent. “Jude is not a whore,” He spat, continuing to glare at the man but forcing himself to calm down.

“Hmm, I’ll be the judge of that thank you.” Glancing once more at the pair he so obviously detested, Vincent swung back around to look at his son. “If you leave with us now and give up this stupid notion of being a dancer maybe we can overlook this disgusting indiscretion and get you into a proper medical school, although you’ll be a few years behind where you should have been.” Shaking his head, the almost black eyed man looked to his wife, “Such a shame, he could have been right on track to becoming a prestigious surgeon by this point.”

“That’s not what he wants though!” Ollie yelled, feeling his anger building back up as both parents ignored him.

Vivian reached out and took one of Jude’s limp hands from his side, “Mr Lisle even has a daughter your age who might be interested. We could set up a wedding and everything, have the pair of you married off before the year is out?”

Kurt and Ollie watched horrified as Jude’s eyes lifted once more to search his mother’s. Everything seeming to click into place, Jude wrenched his hand from his mother’s grasp, Ollie breathing a sigh of relief as he did so. Backing up until he hit the wall, the young man shook his head, eyes wide with fear.

“No, no. I can’t do that.”

Vincent rolled his eyes, stepping up to his son and grabbing his forearms causing Jude to yelp in pain. “Come now Julian. It’s what’s for the best and you know that. That’s the plan for you after all medical school, a nice girl and hopefully a child that will finally listen to this family’s principles.”

Jude stared his Father down, a certain determination flooding his eyes that made Ollie and Kurt both grin, no one made the Anderson brothers’ do anything they didn’t want to do. If anything, that was one of the good traits that they’d picked up from their extremely stubborn parents at times. “No Father I love Oliver and I love dance. I’m not just going to give up the love of my life and the life I have because you tell me too. I’m gay. That’s something you either have to accept or leave my life for. It’s your choice but this is who I am.” Jude’s eyes blazed as he took in his Father’s stunned expression, a small triumphant smirk twisting its way onto his face.

“Fine we’re leaving. You are no longer any son of ours and neither is Blaine Devon. We will not tolerate this blatantly disgusting lifestyle you two have chosen Julian and that’s the end of it. Do not attempt to contact us ever again.”

Drawing himself up to his full height, Jude matched his Father’s unwavering expression in every way; the older Anderson obviously still convinced that he could break the younger one. “Fine oh and Father, I feel like you should know, Ollie and I have been married for over a year and a half now.”

Vivian gasped loudly and Ollie started to snicker, as Vincent Anderson seemed to turn various shades of red before ending up almost purple in his fury. “You are no son of mine.” He scowled, slapping Jude hard before storming out of the apartment, Vivian scurrying after him, shaking her head and muttering under her breath.

The second the door slammed behind them, Jude’s legs gave out and he crashed to the ground clutching his cheek, “Ow, ow, ow.”

Ollie rushed to his husband’s side, gently prying his hand from his face where the big red mark was standing out vividly from the rest of his skin. “Kurt can you get some ice please? You’re okay baby, you’re okay,” Ollie gently cradled Jude against him, kissing his temple. “Kurt, now,” He called sharply at the shellshocked teenager still standing across the room.

Kurt had barely returned with the cold compress when the front door burst open causing all three occupants to jump. Noah and Pippin flew into the room, out of breath and red in the face causing Kurt to simply roll his eyes.

“We just saw Mother and Father, what the hell did they do?” Noah squawked, leaning down to Jude’s sitting height and peeling the compress from his face, hissing when he saw the red mark and letting Ollie place the compress back again.

“Jesus,” Pippin muttered, his blue eyes like saucers and his tongue bar clicking rapidly against his teeth in the nervous habit he’d picked up recently. “Jude I’m so sorry, god they’re absolute assholes.”

“We’re sorry we weren’t here earlier to try and stem some of it at least,” Noah murmured sadly, flinching when Jude burst into heart wrenching sobs, Ollie sighing softly while pulling Jude closer. Kurt winced, grabbing both of the older brothers’ and pulling them across the room, Ollie nodding once in thanks while rocking his husband gently.

“Why are they so god damn cruel?” Jude sobbed, his face buried in his husband’s neck as the younger man held him close, one hand running soothingly up and down his back. “They’re our parents, why can’t they just love us unconditionally, aren’t parents supposed to do that?” Ollie held Jude tighter as the man’s voice cracked, the blue eyed man’s own heart shattering with it.

“I love you Jude, I love you so much,” Ollie whispered, gently brushing finger’s through his high school sweetheart’s hair. “You’ve been mine since the day I saw you on the stairs at Charleston Academy when I was fourteen and you’ll be mine everyday until we’re old and grey and complaining about our grandkids not visiting enough, because you and me? We’re the forever kind baby, I love you and I’m never going to mess this up ever again. You’re stuck with me Baby Doll,” Ollie smiled softly when Jude lifted his head, wet emerald eyes catching his shimmering sapphire ones. Gently, Ollie cupped Jude’s face and kissed him, pulling away to rest his forehead on Jude’s, eyes lighting up at the hint of a smile playing on the edges of the curly haired man’s lips.

“And if they don’t like that? Well then you know what, screw 'em. There are plenty of people who love us both for who we are, and your parents haven’t been there in a long time Baby Doll, something you told me yourself when you were seventeen. Your brothers’ all love and accept you, I love you, my family love you.” Rolling his eyes, the younger man grinned gently, “I’m pretty sure Kara still wants to marry you, but tough, because you are mine and I don’t share well.” Jude chuckled softly at the thought of Ollie’s five year old niece who took great delight in following him everywhere whenever they were visiting Ollie’s family in San Diego, a feat that irritated the blue eyed man to no end.

“My point though, they haven’t been a part of your life for a very long time Baby Doll. Your parents have always sucked, sorry but that’s fact, hell Cooper and Elijah effectively raised you from the age of four, the twins since they were born. You have no need for those horrendous people in your life, this just makes it official I guess.”

“It just hurts,” Jude whimpered softly.

“I know,” Ollie whispered against his hair, “But how often did you talk to them Baby Doll? You talk to Burt and Carole a minimum of once a week, which is more often than I’ve ever seen you talk to your biological parents, and I’ve basically lived with you for six almost seven years now, massive love and thanks to your parents for sending you to boarding school.” Ollie winked, gaining another small chuckle out of his husband, “If they can’t accept you and Blaine, and I highly suspect Reed too,” He added under his breath, Jude shooting him a quizzical look to which he just shook his head, “If they can’t accept you, then they don’t deserve to be in your lives. End of story.”

“But I-”

“No ifs, ands or buts,” Ollie gently kissed him once more, one hand cupping the back of Jude’s neck. “Do you trust me?”

“Endlessly.”

“Corny Anderson,” Ollie snorted, delighting in Jude’s blush and the way he reburied his face in the taller man’s neck, “I love you. This, us, this is real, this is life and it’s god damn beautiful. I’d take our relationship any day of the week over that forced, non-caring shit that your parents have. We have love, at the end of the day, what more do we need?”

“A roof over our heads would be nice,” Jude muttered, a slow smile spreading across his features.

“All right smart ass,” Ollie laughed, “God, I love you.” The younger man smiled softly, nuzzling his nose against Jude’s gently.

“I love you too.”

“Damn they’re fucking disgustingly adorable,” Noah laughed, shaking his head as Ollie started to kiss Jude again. Leaning in the doorway, he smiled softly, Kurt and Pippin crowded around him as they’d watched Ollie calm Jude down from his near hyperventilating state.

“Why can’t I have that?” Pippin wailed dramatically, all eyes in the room turning to look at him, laughter flowing freely once more. “Why do all my relationships suck?”

Kurt shook his head with a small smile, “Come on drama queen we have errands to run.” Grabbing the back of Pippin’s t-shirt he pulled the protesting man from the apartment, shooting Noah a look obviously wanting him to follow.

“Okay, Baby Doll?” Noah mocked with a smirk, Ollie throwing a cushion at the laughing blue eyed man as he shot one last grin and a wink at an amused Jude and scarpered down the stairs after Kurt and Pippin.

* * *

“Where we going Kurt?” Pippin questioned, following the teenager seemingly on a mission through the streets of New York.

“NYADA, I need my laptop and to find Rachel or Adam and see about maybe borrowing theirs, particularly Adam’s because his has a pretty big screen which I need to pull this off properly.” Kurt muttered, texting Ollie as he ducked under a full fish tank without even looking. “Hopefully I can get this idea together in the next hour or so.” Stopping when he realised the other two were no longer just behind him, the brunette boy whipped around, one hand flying up to stifle his laughter as he faced a soaking wet Pippin, Noah practically crying with laughter beside him while the delivery men looked on, perplexed now carrying a half full fish tank. “And apparently we need to find you some new clothes.” Grabbing the sleeve of Pippin’s brown leather jacket, he started to pull the shivering man through the bustling streets, Noah hot on their heels whilst still sniggering to himself.

Pippin’s teeth chattered violently as they marched through the crowds of tourists and office workers leaving for the day, “I h-h-hat-te you b-b-b-both.”

“Maybe you should just be more elegant like Kurt and you would’ve never had this problem,” Noah snickered dancing out of Pippin’s way and abruptly slipping over on the icy street.

“How old are the pair of you exactly?” Kurt mumbled in exasperation, staring at the pouting men, before stepping over Noah and continuing at his rapid pace, the twenty something brothers both scrambling to follow after him, pushing and shoving at each other.

* * *

“We have a surprise for you, well it’s Kurt’s surprise really, but we’re all just going to highjack it and say it’s ours,” Pippin beamed, showing a confused Jude a row of pearly white teeth before grabbing one of the four laptops at his disposal. “This one has the largest screen, so I guess it’ll do.”

Jude watched in bewilderment as Pippin quickly booted up the laptop, opening his skype account. Within seconds, the curly haired young man found himself staring into the smiling faces of every one of his brothers’ crowded into various settings.

“I hope you appreciate this Jude, it’s damn early,” Austin yawned, stretching slightly and leaning onto the back of the chair Cooper was sat on in front of him.

Cooper frowned, turning back to look at the younger Anderson, “It’s like lunchtime.”

“Precisely. It’s early.”

Cooper shook his head, turning back to make a face at all of the others, “God give me strength.”

“You’re only three hours behind the rest of us, that makes it like one where you are,” Blaine frowned, “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“It’s a day without classes or work and I was up playing Call of Duty with Reed until like six,” Austin groaned, slumping forwards again, Cooper trying to push him off of the back of his chair.

“How come Reed doesn’t look like an extra on 'The Walking Dead’ then?” Noah smirked from where he sat leaning against Jude, his legs flung over the arm of the chair as Austin pulled the same move on Jude’s other side, the laptop balanced precariously on the coffee table in front of them.

“Duh I’m just awesome and Austin sucks.”

“Screw you Reed.”

“Ooh I totally forgot to tell you guys’ but I just booked a spot on 'The Walking Dead’,” Cooper grinned.

“And there’s another show we can no longer watch…” Elijah sniggered battling to keep Bentley and Blaine separated on either side of him on the couch in the Hummel’s living room where the twins had been staying since the fallout with their parents’.

Ignoring Cooper’s protests, the other brothers’ simply laughed, Austin finally waking up slightly. “No worries, he’s just a zombie, god knows he’ll be killed soon enough with the rate that show goes through them and how come Reed’s in Boston? Surely you should be back at Georgia Tech by now Reedy boy.”

“Well Reed’s with me because he’s a good brother and actually came to help me move,” Lucas smirked, quirking an eyebrow when the others all began to argue about work and school. “Uh-huh, I’d like to point out it’s early afternoon on a Monday and you’re all now split up around the country,” His eyes flickered over Elijah and Noah, “Many of you not in the place where you should be working.” Grinning when silence fell, Lucas shook his head slightly, showing he wasn’t actually mad at any of his siblings.

Bentley’s face scrunched up in confusion, “Wait, wait, wait, I’m sure Austin’s right though, you should be back in school Reed.”

“It’s boooooooring,” Reed whined, deliberately looking away from the L.A. feed where he knew Cooper was sending him a dirty look.

“Well then drop out!” Cooper squawked, the rest of the brothers’ controlling themselves from laughing at Reed’s affronted look.

“Hell no! I worked damn hard to get into that school and I’m top of my class, are you kidding?”

Elijah’s head dropped into his hands, “I give up. I truly and honestly give up.”

Blaine poked him in the side, “Lij, hey Lij. I think you guys’ finally did it, he finally lost it.”

“Eurgh,” Elijah yelped, grabbing hold of Blaine.

“Not the hair! Elijah get away from me.”

“Erm, Bentley, what the hell is going on? They’ve disappeared from the feed,” Austin cackled, craning his head to see around Cooper.

“Elijah is currently killing Blaine and ruffling his hair out of the gelmet thing he still insists on for school,” Bentley rolled his eyes before they widened exponentially and he glanced back to the camera once more, smiling sweetly, “Excuse us a moment.”

All of the brothers’ rolled their eyes as the fighting continued, the Ohio stream showing nothing but a couch and a wall, an occasional hand or foot appearing in the frame.

“I don’t even want to know,” Cooper muttered shaking his head slowly.

Lucas suddenly grinned, side eyeing Reed quickly. “To be fair, I have an inkling of why Reed jumped at the opportunity to help and it has something to do with a certain boy who’s been visiting his state attorney Father in Boston for the last two days.”

“Shut up Luc,” Reed hissed, nudging his brother while the blush rose in his cheeks.

“Well I know Sebastian’s been in Boston for the last few days,” Blaine beamed, his face appearing in the window again, looking a lot more dishevelled than normal. The brothers’ watched as a hand snuck into the frame, attempting to straighten Blaine’s bowtie, only for Bentley to retract with a yelp when Blaine hit him.

“Seriously Reed, Sebby?” Pippin grinned, batting his eyelids at him.

Reed glared at Lucas once more, slapping him over the back of the head, the rest of the brothers’ wincing at the resounding smack.

“We have to talk about our violence at some point,” Noah winced, the others humming in agreement although not really paying any attention.

“I think we may be distracted from the reason we’re hosting this lovely online get together. As happy as it makes me to see all of you ugly assholes,” Austin chuckled, cringing when the basketball he’d been playing with flew out of his hands, crashing straight into a series of framed photographs hanging on the red walls of Cooper’s office room, sending them hurtling to the ground. “Annnnnyway…” He trailed off with a small smile, blatantly ignoring Cooper’s glare in favour of shooting Pippin a look.

“Ooh, ooh yeah I kind of forgot,” The older twin yelped, ignoring Austin’s frustrated look. “Jude, Jude, Jude, our parents suck and so this is for you.”

Jude’s eyebrow quirked up in curiosity, a little scared of what they could have cooked up.

“Yeah, we love you little brother,” Noah grinned, flinging an arm around the dancer’s, and inadvertently the comedian’s, shoulders as a chorus of 'love yous’ flowed through the computer speakers. “Now without further ado…”

Laughing, Jude let his eyes flicker over each of his brothers as they all cleared their throats, eyes all looking to the Ohio feed. Blaine rolled his eyes and threw a grin Jude’s way before starting everyone off.

_Hey Jude, don’t make it bad_

_Take a sad song and make it better_

_Remember to let him into your heart_

_Then you can start to make it better_

Grinning at Jude, Blaine broke off, letting Lucas and Austin take over, his sweet mellow voice giving way to the out of tune squawking that made Jude’s laughter flare up at long last.

_Hey Jude, don’t be afraid_

_You were made to go out and get him_

_The minute you let him under your skin_

_Then you begin to make it better_

_And anytime you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain_

_Don’t carry the world upon your shoulders_

_For well you know that it’s a fool who plays it cool_

_By making his world a little colder_

_Nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah_

Frowning and pulling a pair of earplugs from his ears, Cooper smirked at his younger brothers’, gladly taking the reigns only to be gatecrashed by everybody else halfway through the verse much to his horror.

_Hey Jude, don’t let me down_

_You have found him, now go and get him_

_Remember to let him into your heart_

_Then you can start to make it better_

“You’re all terrible,” Jude laughed over their (mostly) out of tune crooning, his eyes twinkling and a happy blush crossing his features.

_So let it out and let it in, hey Jude, begin_

_You’re waiting for someone to perform with_

_And don’t you know that it’s just you, hey Jude, you’ll do_

_The movement you need is on your shoulder_

_Nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah yeah_

_Hey Jude, don’t make it bad_

_Take a sad song and make it better_

_Remember to let him under your skin_

_Then you’ll begin to make it_

_Better better better better better better, oh_

_Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Jude_

_Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Jude_

_Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Jude_

Blaine and Reed each broke off, laughing fits overcoming them as the rest of the brothers’ simply got louder and louder with each repeated line.

_Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Jude_

_Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Jude_

_Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Jude_

_Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Jude_

_Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Jude_

_Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Jude_

_Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Jude_

Leaning on the doorframe, Ollie wrapped one arm around the man he knew would one day be his brother-in-law. “Thanks for this Kurt, this was exactly what he needed,” The older man whispered, a grin on his face as he watched his laughing husband.

Kurt shrugged slightly, “Blaine would’ve wanted the same thing I only did what I hoped someone would’ve done for him.”

“Of course, they always get there in the end they’re just usually slower at getting round to it,” Ollie smirked, Kurt chuckling softly next to him. “I swear to god though if they keep up this nah nah nah for the rest of the night, which I suspect may be likely, I will throttle you personally.”

_Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Jude_

_Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Jude_

_Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Jude_

_Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Jude_

_Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Jude_


	8. The Bonds We Break

Cooper sighed heavily as he glanced up to look at each of his brothers individually. He personally hated seeing them in this situation, it reminded him of everything that his parents stood for, the formalness of the location making everything which had happened over the previous few weeks feel even more real. Staring resolutely at the horrible framed picture at the end of the boardroom table, the oldest Anderson took a deep breath, knowing in his heart that he was about to set in motion actions which should have happened years ago if the brothers’ had had the safety net in place that they had now.

Clearing his throat, he smiled softly when Jude jumped, a dark purple bruise still filling his cheek, Blaine’s hand automatically reaching across to grab his older brother’s in comfort. “I know that not all of you, in fact only Elijah, Burt and Carole know what I’m about to say,” Cooper nodded gently to the couple sat at the other end of the table, feeling each of his brother’s curious eyes burning into him. “Jesus this is weird and hard…” The eldest brother trailed of with a sigh, one hand running through his messy hair.

“That’s what she said,” Pippin quipped, a smirk twitching at the corners of his mouth.

Noah snorted, sparkling eyes finally glancing up from his fingers tapping on the boardroom table. “Really, you really went there?”

Austin’s lips instantly drew upwards in an almost identical smirk to his twin’s, “That’s what she said.”

The brothers’ each looked at each other, daring one of the other’s to crack first. Reed was the first to give in as shoulders trembling laughter flowed from him, his forehead hitting the table, the other brothers’ following suit moments later. Cooper grinned, shaking his head as the tension that had flooded the large boardroom of the Columbus offices in which they were sat instantly dissipated.

“Alright, alright,” He called, laughing himself, whilst he attempted to bring his younger brothers’ back in line once more. “There actually is a genuine reason that I made you all fly out here for today, that being that we needed to do this in Ohio.” The blue eyed man took a deep breath as a hush fell once more around the room, Bentley clinging to Carole in a way that made Cooper raise an eyebrow as she brushed through his messy curls with a motherly hand. “I did something that I should have done a long time ago and I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to realise what we as a family needed and to actually do it. I talked to Clinton.”

Stunned silence turned into immediate uproar, as each of the brothers’ demanded their own answers, Cooper attempting to listen to each and every concern as it spilled from their lips. Elijah, Burt and Carole’s heads whipped around as each of the brother’s yelled out questions and confusions, Bentley still holding tightly on to Carole.

“Everybody quiet!” Burt roared, silence instantly falling in the room, seven pairs of sheepish eyes landing on the older man, “How about you all listen to Cooper and see exactly what he has to say before you all jump on him, huh?” They all nodded guiltily, turning their attention back to the other end of the table.

Cooper smiled gently, rolling his eyes, “Thanks Burt. You lot are all morons,” He muttered, pointing to each of his brothers’ as slow, easy smiles filled their faces.

“Says the one who raised us,” Reed smirked, yelping when Elijah’s hand hit him over the back of his head from his right hand side.

“Shut it and listen brat attack,” The older brother hissed, throwing a look at Reed who was tenderly rubbing the back of his head.

“You’re the brat attack,” Reed muttered petulantly, his bottom lip sticking out in a pout.

“Nice Reed, real mature,” Lucas grinned, rolling his eyes when Reed simply stuck his tongue out at him.

“Can we all shut up please? I really want to know what Clinton said.”

“Thank you Blaine,” Cooper chuckled as Blaine narrowly avoided Pippin’s paper aeroplane, throwing a dirty look at the innocently whistling older set of twins. “Anyway, he said that our parents have no right to ever even try to take the trust funds from us because they’ve legally been ours since birth. No money actually comes from our parents, or theoretically even passes through them; it’s all Grandfathers’ fortune that’s in our trust funds. Although those of you who aren’t eighteen or twenty-one yet do have to reach the correct age for each instalment as that’s what the trust fund contract stipulates. Also the grounds for cars still stand. Hit twenty-one and get another million for one, as it was Grandfather’s wishes, however, that money does still go back to our parents.”

“I don’t understand how that works still then, how does the money go back to them if it’s never really theirs in the first place?” Bentley queried, face scrunched up in confusion as he finally leaned away from Carole.

“I can answer that question for you young Master Anderson.” An older gentleman with grey speckled hair and kind hazel eyes stepped into the room, smiling at each of the brother’s and heading up to Cooper’s end of the table, shaking his hand when he reached him.

Bentley flopped back in his chair, his arms folding across his chest and a matching pout to Reed’s covering his lips. “I hate being called that.”

The older man chuckled softly, “Sorry Master Anderson, it is required by your Father that anyone from the company address his sons as such.”

“It’s stupid.”

Laughing softly, the tall man let his eyes scan over Burt and Carole, “Sorry, I should introduce myself, Clinton Barrett, lawyer for the Anderson estate.”

“Burt Hummel and my wife Carole,” Burt smiled warily, shaking the Clinton’s hand when it was offered. “If I can ask the first question, why exactly does your company handle to Anderson estate when I’m fairly certain that they have a fairly prestigious law firm of their own?”

“Aah,” Clinton smiled, a soft twinkle in his eye, “Walter Anderson, the boys’ Grandfather was my mentor when I first became a lawyer and I spent many happy years at his firm before opening one of my own.” The man smiled gently, “It’s not that Walt didn’t trust his son, per say, it’s just that he didn’t like him very much. The boy took on a lot of Walter’s wife’s views of the world, and it was an arranged marriage, therefore, he wanted someone else to manage his estate and will, in order to make sure his grandchildren and great-grandchildren saw their fair share of the family money.”

Burt nodded thoughtfully, “Makes sense then I guess, makes sure that his future generations are taken care of regardless of the generation before them screwing up.”

“Exactly,” Clinton said softly, eyeing Burt carefully. “You’re Congressman Hummel aren’t you?”

“The one and only.”

Clinton nodded considerately, much in the way that Burt had moments earlier. “Good, I voted for you, stick to your platforms and you’ll go far.” At Burt’s raised eyebrow, the man blushed slightly, many of the Anderson brothers’ either gaping in shock or snickering softy behind their hands. “Sorry, I’m from Sidney and my youngest daughter had just come out at the time so it was rather a big issue in my home when you decided to run.”

Blaine’s head whipped round to look at Clinton, “Wait Christy’s gay?”

“Yes, and living with her partner Michelle in Illinois,” Clinton smiled softly.

“Huh, I always wondered when you stopped siding with Father and appearing at all the dinners he threw what had happened,” Blaine said contemplatively, his eyes crinkling with a smile as he looked to the older man.

Clasping the young boy on the shoulder, the lawyer shook his head gently, “Never feel that I had the same views as your Father Master Anderson, they’ve always been far too extreme for my taste.”

“Good to know,” Blaine laughed.

“Right down to business then…”

* * *

Hours later found the two youngest Anderson’s and Cooper sat with a pile of paperwork each whilst the other brothers’ looked on. Blaine instantly reached for the pen in front of him, not even questioning as he signed the papers and immediately handed them straight back to Clinton with a slightly sad shrug.

Bentley sighed softly, “I guess that they really didn’t want us then, huh?” Flicking through the pages, he couldn’t help the tears that sprang up in his eyes as he recognised the signatories of his parents, officially giving up custody of their seventeen year olds.

“I’m really sorry kid, truly I am,” Clinton murmured sadly, clasping Bentley’s shoulder once before retreating to a more professional position next to Cooper.

Cooper watched his youngest brother carefully over the top of his glasses; hands paused in the documents he was flicking through one last time. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want Bentley, we can try and find some other way around this.”

The curly haired boy laughed bitterly, reaching and grabbing the pen that Blaine had abandoned after signing his own papers. “What’s the point? They were never exactly parent material and they don’t want me or any of us, so why should I want them?” Signing the papers with a flick of his hands, the young boy took in a shuddering breath as Carole gently ran a hand up and down his back.

She sighed softly, pulling him into her arms and beckoning Blaine closer until she could wrap an arm around his waist when he stood next to her. “You boys’ aren’t sad for what you’re giving up, you’re sad for what you should have had all along. Not a single one of you deserved the hand you were dealt with your parents and it’s time to move forward with your lives and the family who do love you all and will always be by your side.”

The twins blinked in wonderment, each leaning in to hug Carole tighter, “Thank you Carole.”

“Alright, how about we get this show on the road then,” Burt clasped his hands together, wrapping an arm around Reed’s shoulders and leading him from the room, Cooper handing over the last of his documents and following his family out of the offices.

* * *

Pulling into the long, winding driveway of the Anderson estate, Blaine instantly started to bounce in his seat, Austin throwing him a questionable look from the seat beside him as the Anderson mansion came fully into view. More importantly to Blaine though, the familiar black Navigator parked in the driveway, its owner leaning on the hood, oblivious to how much like a supermodel he currently looked.

“Damn boy,” Pippin let loose a low whistle, leaning around Austin, “Hey Blaine, can I have your boy?”

Throwing his brother a dirty look, Blaine flung the door open as soon as the car pulled to a stop, sprinting the rest of the way up the drive, “Kurt!”

Looking up at his boyfriend’s squeal, Kurt only just managed to pocket his phone before finding himself with an armful of Blaine Anderson. Laughing, the blue eyed teenager lifted Blaine from the floor, twirling him in circles as he giggled and buried his face in the crook of Kurt’s neck.

Rolling his eyes at his boyfriend’s antics, Kurt lovingly ran one hand through slightly gelled curls, pressing a kiss the Blaine’s temple. “Honey, are you going to let go anytime soon?”

“Nope,” Blaine sighed happily, burrowing his face further into Kurt’s neck, almost purring at the vibrations that shook Kurt’s chest as the older laughed contentedly.

Cooper shook his head, muttering under his breath and moving to unlock the front door, each of the other brothers’ greeting Kurt with grins and pats on the shoulder before sprinting up the steps to start gathering the belongings they each kept in their childhood home. Austin and Pippin beamed cheekily at each other before diving on the young lovers and sandwiching them in a hug, much to Kurt’s amusement and Blaine’s dismay. Squeezing them extra tight to the point that Kurt managed to thump Pippin on the head to be released for air, the twins each kissed the tops of the teenagers’ heads before taking off into the house, pushing and shoving each other as they went.

“They’re actually certifiable,” Kurt murmured, wrapping his arms snugly around Blaine’s waist again.

“Alright you two, come on, there’s plenty to get done and we have to be out of here by five at the absolute latest,” Burt said softly, squeezing Kurt’s shoulder gently when the older teen grinned at him.

“Why five?” Noah questioned curiously, already carrying a box of random clutter out to place in his silver Porsche 918 Spyder.

“It’s what the contract from your parents stipulates, you must have left their property by that time or leave everything behind, yada, yada, yada.” Burt shook his head, climbing the stairs to go find the older twins, knowing full well that they were more likely to be involved in a pillow fight rather than actually packing.

“Evil bastards,” Noah muttered slamming the door to his car and leaning against it, grinning when he heard Blaine’s snort of laughter. “So can I offer you any assistance to clear out your room Blainey? That’s literally the only box of my crap that I had here.”

Blaine shook his head, still clinging tightly to Kurt but turning his face to look at his older brother. “We’re good thanks. Kurt’s like master organiser and packer so chances are even though I have the most stuff here, I’ll possibly be done first. Benny could probably use a hand though, we both know what his packing skills are like.”

Noah visibly shuddered at the memories of Bentley packing for the likes of ‘family holidays’. Or more specifically, Bentley attempting to pack and then one of his other brothers’ repacking for him and pulling out the mountains of crap he deemed he needed to take, including the ski boots he’d once attempted to take on a Caribbean cruise. “Yeah, I don’t think even atrocious covers it really. Carole’s helping him though so I’m going to go see what state Reed’s in.”

Kurt smirked slightly, “If he’s stressing too much just find Sebastian’s number and give him a ring, that’ll calm him down.”

Hearing his brother snort once more before he buried his face back into Kurt’s neck Noah tilted his head in confusion, shaking it before leaving the two lovers alone once more.

* * *

Eventually reaching their intended destination of Blaine’s room, the two boy’s came to a halt to find everyone else stood between Blaine and Benny’s rooms, the latters looking as though a bomb had gone off in it while Blaine’s door was still closed. Various boxes already lined the hallways, each of the brother’s names covering them as they waited to be put in cars and shipped out to the appropriate state.

“Hey look who finally turned up!” Austin crowed, snickering as he sat on top of his and Pippin’s boxes, currently the largest pile, “The rest of us are done, apart from Benny who’s having a mini meltdown.” Angling his head to the room, Kurt and Blaine poked their heads in the door just to see Bentley pacing and muttering to himself grabbing numerous bits and pieces as he went, Carole sat on the floor with an entertained expression on her face. “I wonder what you two were up to all alone outside,” Austin continued, waggling his eyebrows and flicking his lip ring as he did so.

Lucas rolled his eyes at the dark haired young man, hitting him round the head and trying to ignore the darkening blush that covered both Kurt and Blaine’s faces. “I know you said you didn’t need any help B, but we all effectively moved out years ago and god knows we need to keep Austin and Pippin at least busy for the next few hours, so we are at yours and Benny’s service.” Grinning, Lucas pulled Bentley into the hallway when he tried to walk past the door again. “Benny, cool it, we’re all here to help and it’ll be fine, just make sure that you have all of your crap from around the rest of the house and we’ll start in your room.”

“Are you guys ready for this?” Elijah questioned softly, eyes flickering over the youngest members of the family.

The twins glanced to each other, Blaine’s free hand reaching out to squeeze his brother’s, the older twin shooting him a reassuring smile. “More than ready,” They sounded together, eyes fixed determinedly and small smiles playing on their faces.

“Don’t do that!” The older brothers’ chorused together, making Kurt jump and Burt laugh a little.

Blaine rolled his eyes with a small smirk. “Correct me if I’m wrong but they just did it right?” Blaine drawled, his smirk growing.

Bentley shook his head with a heavy sigh, “Hypocritical bastards.”

“Okay then,” Cooper stepped in, pushing Austin into Blaine’s room and Pippin into Bentley’s. “Let’s get started on this minefield of crap.”

“You know you’re all really harsh about mine and Blaine’s fantastic belongings, I have to say.”

Ignoring Bentley, Cooper powered straight through, eyeing each of the rooms closely, Bentley’s looking like a tornado had recently torn through and flung items everywhere, from books to Xbox games to clothes. Blaine’s room however was neat and organised, almost everything in its rightful place. Grinning at how the twins were either two peas in a pod or as different as night and day, the older man laughed softly at the thought of them sharing a room for the first time since he had put them in separate rooms when they were five and couldn’t help but want to wish Carole and Burt luck. “Right, you guys have bunk beds so leave the beds, other than that it’s a free for all on what you want to take, but realistically, you don’t particularly need any furniture.”

“Awesome,” Bentley beamed, hi-fiving Blaine. “Just so we’re clear, I get the top bunk.”

“No way, that’s not fair!” Blaine scowled, folding his arms across his chest.

Bentley glared back, “I’m the oldest!”

Scoffing Blaine shook his head, “By twenty seven minutes! That’s nothing.”

“And so it begins,” Cooper sighed, running a hand down his face and getting ready to intervene.

“Twenty seven and a half minutes older,” Bentley pouted, folding his own arms across his chest.

“Yeah because a whole thirty seconds really counts for so much,” Blaine sassed back, rolling his eyes.

Kurt sniggered, finally seeing what everyone meant when they told him that he was clearly rubbing off on Blaine. Noticing Cooper opening his mouth to say something, Kurt quickly butted in first, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend’s waist and resting his head on his shoulder. “Mon petit trésor, you want the bottom one,” He grinned when Blaine sent him a pout, pecking his cheek gently, “It’s a double bed.” He added releasing a grinning Blaine as Bentley’s mouth fell open and the majority of the older brothers’ started to laugh.

“No way!” Bentley squealed, a horrified look crossing his face, “When Kurt’s home the two of you can so have his room!”

“Actually when Kurt’s home they can each still have their own rooms,” Burt smirked, walking into Bentley’s room to pass Carole the school books he’d found downstairs with the slightly older twin’s name on them.

“Dad!” Kurt yelped.

Simultaneously, Blaine shrieked, “Burt!” The blushes that had left their faces now returning in full force, the rest of the brother’s continuing to howl with laughter.

* * *

“How are they doing?” Carole inquired, raising her eyebrows and sipping from her coffee mug when a harried looking Cooper entered the kitchen she and Burt were currently occupying after giving up trying to help the teenagers pack.

Cooper chuckled softly and shrugged, “Well they’re not killing each other yet so that’s something at least, but since they’ve decided to gang up on me about the adverts once more I figured I’d come down here.” Sliding down the wall that led to the utility room, the oldest brother’s eyes fixed to the floorboards, scrutinising the wooden boards closely.

“You ever regret those ads?” Burt questioned, standing to fill another coffee mug to hand to the man.

Glancing up, the brunette flicked his hair out of his face to reveal sparkling cobalt eyes, “Nah, they were fun to film and they pay most of mine and Austin’s bills still so I’m really not going to complain. I’m still just waiting for a big break with a bit of luck.”

Burt hesitated for a moment, “It’ll come eventually.”

Cooper barked out a laugh shaking his head. “Possibly. I’m well aware that I’m not as good as Blaine or Kurt, hell even Pippin probably has me beat, but I love it and I’m trying to make it work for me. It just helps that I have them beat in having a cocky as hell, happy-go-lucky nature most of the time.”

“That’s all that matters really then, there’s no point to living a life you’re unhappy with,” Carole smiled, reaching across and taking Burt’s hand.

The congressman smiled, squeezing her hand gently, tilting his head as he watched Cooper go back to examining the floor. “You know we don’t bite right kid? There’s plenty of space at this table.”

Cooper laughed, “I know, believe me, you’ve done enough for my family to know that. I wish that you’d let me give you something given that you’re letting my two little brothers’ live with you until graduation.”

Burt shook his head adamantly, shooting Cooper a stern look. “I’ve told you before Cooper I don’t want any of your money. All I want to know is that you boys’ are all happy, healthy and safe. I’ll make sure they’re safe, I promise.”

“Thank you.”

“Nothing to thank us for kid,” Burt sipped his coffee, gently eyeing up Cooper once more, “So are you going to join us at this table or not?”

“Not. I’m trying to find Squirt’s hidey hole.” At both Burt and Carole’s amused glances Cooper shrugged, grinning as he finally reached for a floorboard. “Ever since he was a toddler he’s been using one of the loose floorboards to hide random bits and pieces, mostly things which scare him or he just wants to keep safe. He may be seventeen, but I know Blaine, and I’m pretty certain that it’ll still be full.”

Still holding the floorboard up, Cooper reached into the tight space, pulling out a photograph, a dried out yellow boutonniere and a Dalton academy crest clearly cut from one of Blaine’s blazers from before he’d thrown them all away just after the 'slushie incident.’ Carefully, he ran his fingers through the worn petals of the yellow flower, wincing at the blood splattered on them. Picking out the photograph, he laughed softly at the polaroid, both Blaine and Adam looking carefree and happy in the selfie Adam was obviously taking while Blaine held up bunny ears behind his head, both with their eyes crossed and tongues sticking out. Cooper gently ran a finger over Blaine’s happy features knowing that both young teenagers would have been through hell and back within a few hours from the photograph having been taken.

Carole smoothly eased herself to the floor beside Cooper, taking the photograph in hand and studying it carefully. “We’ve come full circle you and me, hmm?” Carole smiled, tenderly nudging Cooper’s shoulder with her own.

Cooper laughed slightly bitterly, “Yeah, I guess we have. I never thanked you for that night you know and I really should have.”

Carole shrugged smiling sadly, “I was just doing my job honey; you’re lucky that none of you boys felt the wrath of my tiredness pulling a triple.”

“Nope you were perfect.” Cooper whispered, turning his head to look at the woman sat beside him, memories of the night that still haunted his dreams flashing through his mind.

Chuckling softly, Carole gently wrapped an arm around Cooper’s shoulders, letting him lean his head on her shoulder. “Ha, I don’t know about that but you boys'… had you told me that a year and a half later my own stepson would be dating one of you then a year and a half after that I would consider you all my own, I would’ve called you crazy.”

Eyeing Carole carefully, Cooper smiled faintly, “You were and you really didn’t put it together earlier?”

“Not until I saw you all together at New Years. You still have the same family dynamic that you had in that hospital room.”

Cooper shrugged, scrunching up his face slightly. “I’m going to assume that that was a compliment of sorts and say thank you Carole.”

“It was definitely a compliment Cooper honey. I work with so many different families in the most heart breaking situations on a daily basis and it’s incredibly rare that I get to work with a group as tight knit as you and your brothers’ are.” Tenderly, she brushed his hair out of his eyes and placed an affectionate kiss on his forehead, Cooper’s gaze falling back to the photograph he was still holding once more.

“Wait a minute, so you knew all the boys’ before Kurt met Blaine?” Burt questioned, eyes wide with confusion as the duo on the floor turned to look back at him.

Cooper’s smiled waned slightly as he kept his gaze fully focused on the photograph, one finger gently running across Blaine’s innocent features. “Carole met us on the worst night of our lives, the night we almost lost Blaine. I’ll never forget that night, none of it, for as long as I live. The time between getting the phone call from Adam and reaching Blaine just seemed to be eternal and he was just so freaking small in that bed. Naturally our parents never once made it back.” The oldest Anderson ended on an entirely bitter note, one hand almost crushing the dried yellow flower it was still holding.

Burt’s face had paled considerably, a silent fury spreading across it, his hands clenching into fists, “The Sadie Hawkins dance,” He uttered, Carole and Cooper’s solemn nods enough to let him know how right he was.

“Technically I was Blaine’s nurse the night he was brought in yes, but like I said I didn’t put two and two together until I saw all of them at once.” Carole visibly shuddered as her mind conjured a picture of the small boy beaten black and blue with wild frizzy curls that she had treated her final night of a triple shift. If she had gone home the next day and hugged Finn extra tightly when he returned home from school then thankfully her then fifteen year old had said nothing about it and just held her back. “Blaine was unconscious the whole time I was on his case so it’s no wonder that he didn’t twig, but god the poor kid was so hurt after that.”

Cooper barked out a bitter laugh. “No kidding, his whole left hand was pretty much reconstructed.” Burt and Carole both winced heavily. “They shattered it, fifteen breaks in that hand alone. His hand is full of bolts and wire now. It took so long for him to get full usage back, to be fair he’s lucky that he even did. That’s not even mentioning the three broken ribs, two cracked ribs, god knows what damage they did to his right leg and the numerous cuts and bruises that they covered him in.”

“Please tell me they were punished for that?” Burt murmured quietly, Cooper scoffing loudly, scrunching up the flower in his hold once more.

“Of course not. Our parents decided that it was too much advertisement that they had a gay son,” Cooper shook his head in disgust. “Adam’s parents pulled him straight out and put him in a boarding school in New York where he would be safe, ours however gave Blaine the option of either prosecuting and staying at Westerville Central or going to Dalton where he could be safe.”

“Who the hell gives a child a decision like that?” Burt growled, anger emanating from his figure.

“The ones who were embarrassed to have a gay son,” A small voice piped up from the doorway, every eye in the room turning to look at Blaine who in turn was staring at the photograph in Cooper’s hand, Kurt stood beside him looking sick at the extent of Blaine’s injuries from that night being detailed. Almost on instinct Blaine flexed his left hand, striding across the room to take the picture from his older brother, Kurt moving to Burt’s side, leaning gently against his Dad as the man’s arm wrapped tightly around him.

Cooper sighed, pulling Blaine into his hold as he stood up, “It’s okay Squirt, you’ve never seen them since and you’ll never see them again.” Holding Blaine tightly to his chest, Cooper leant his head on the top of his baby brother’s, eyes closing at the thought of holding Blaine this close over the years, his new baby smell morphing gradually to the raspberry that now rose from his head due to the gel products he used. “Needless to say he, and we because he asked for all of our opinions, opted for Dalton. It was too big of a risk for even one of us to say we would pay for the prosecution or Dalton, or both, realistically due to our parent’s connections. There was no telling what would have happened if we’d done that so the little shits got of scot free basically.”

“That is utterly ridiculous,” Burt muttered, holding Kurt tighter.

“I couldn’t agree more with you there,” Cooper sounded, subconsciously pulling Blaine closer as he had just watched the older man do with his own son.

* * *

Noticing his boyfriend staring into his old room, the ex-warbler tilted his head slightly, smiling sadly. Looking to Bentley, his smile grew at the concern showing on his brother’s face. “Go ahead Bentley, I’ll speak to Kurt and then we’ll join you guys on the road.”

“Sure, see you in a few hours,” Bentley smiled, hugging his brother tightly before bouncing down the stairs.

“You okay mio bello?” Blaine whispered, wrapping arms around Kurt’s waist and resting his head on his shoulder.

“Yeah, it’s just…” Kurt murmured, leaning back against Blaine and gesturing around Blaine’s old room.

“A lot of memories.” Blaine tenderly kissed Kurt’s shoulder. A whirlwind of memories floated around his head of he and Kurt in the room that had been his since his fifth birthday. The two of them slow dancing to John Mayer the first time they’d heard his cover of 'free falling’, singing along to musicals of all varieties, trash talking each other playing 'Mario Kart’ and just in general messing around and loving each other, being exactly who they wanted to be within the four walls of this room.

“Yeah, after all, this is where you told me why they invented masturbation,” Kurt snorted, Blaine blushing scarlet as the older boy turned in his arms, sliding his own around Blaine’s neck and brushing their noses together.

Blaine groaned, letting his head fall forward and a small smile cross his face, “You’re never going to let me live that down are you?”

“Our first time though B…” Kurt crumpled slightly, eyes flicking back to look at Blaine’s old bed even as he rested his forehead against his boyfriend’s.

“I know, Kurt, I know,” He whispered softly, closing the door and leading Kurt from the house and into a new chapter in their lives and families.

* * *

Carole sighed as she tripped over one of the many bodies littering her living room, watching as Burt managed to cautiously make it to the other side of the minefield of teenagers and young men. “Alright, are you boys’ finished moving everything in?” Noting all of the nods as they each continued to focus on 'The Simpsons’ episode they were all watching, the mother rolled her eyes, shaking her head as a loving smile appeared on her face. “How about putting everything away?” The woman grinned at the sudden pause, each of the boys’ glancing around the room for confirmation before nodding in unison once more. “Okay then, Kurt, Blaine, Reed, Noah and Lucas come and help me in the kitchen. The rest of you go and help Burt find tables and seats for the fifteen of us please.”

A mass groan echoed through the room, Bentley rolling off of the couch onto Sam who had been lying alongside it.

“Mom do we have to?” Finn whined, attempting to pull off a puppy dog look.

“You seriously need to take lessons on how to do that properly from Blaine and Benny,” Cooper murmured, wincing at the painful looking formation settling on Finn’s face and pulling Elijah to his feet.

“Can we help in the kitchen?” Austin and Pippin beamed innocently, their hair each sticking up wildly in a million different directions from the play fight they’d had over who could get the best spot on the floor.

“NO!” Each Anderson brother yelled simultaneously, Cooper and Jude pulling them off even as they pouted, Carole ushering her group of boys’ towards the car to help her get the rest of the shopping bags out.

* * *

“I’ve never cooked for fifteen before so this could be interesting,” Carole muttered, pouring over the recipe book with Kurt and Reed. The other three sat up on the counter, watching closely with slightly bored expressions. “Take out would be much easier,” She mused, chuckling at the horrified looks from Kurt and Reed contrasting with the eager ones from Noah, Lucas and Blaine.

Kurt shook his head vehemently. “No, no way. I know that you guys’ had take out last night so no.” Noah shot a glare at a sheepish looking Blaine, slapping him around the back of the head making the younger brother scowl back at him and lean into Lucas’ side. Kurt sighed softly, flicking through a few more pages of the book. “How about you and Noah tackle a salad Carole and I’m sure Reed and I can whip up a mass pasta dish or something?”

Grinning, the second youngest Anderson present stepped back from the fridge he had been rooting through. “Kurt, how do you feel about learning my chicken and prawn chilli tomato tagliatelle?”

“That sounds amazing.”

“Trust us, it is,” Noah drooled, Lucas and Blaine agreeing with dreamy looks on their faces.

“It sounds like a plan then boys’,” Carole beamed, clapping her hands together, “And that leaves Blaine and Lucas to come up with dessert.”

Noah and Reed groaned as Lucas and Blaine hi-fived, gleeful expressions and laughter flowing from them as they hopped down from the counter, instantly rooting through the cupboard that held Kurt’s emergency baking supplies.

“Do I even want to know?” Kurt queried, arching an eyebrow.

“Just be prepared for microwavable chocolate cake, it’s all they know how to make basically,” Noah laughed, dancing past Kurt with armfuls of lettuce.

“Not actually as bad as it sounds,” Reed smiled softly, shaking his head while Lucas and Blaine began to squabble over who got to crack the eggs.

* * *

“I actually have no idea how we’re going to do this,” Burt muttered, scratching his head as he glanced to the makeshift table in his dining room. They had just about managed to fit one of the summer picnic tables and the coffee tables alongside the large family tables, shoving beanbags out where there had been no room for a proper seat.

“I so call a beanbag!” Pippin screeched, throwing himself into one from the living room, Austin, Finn and Reed hot on his heels.

Cooper blinked slowly, shaking his head at them from where he stood beside Burt, Sam joining the older duo, confusion etched on his face as he tilted his head to study the four who were behaving more like children than the grown ups they supposedly were. “Well that solves the kids’ table dilemma then,” Cooper drawled, rolling his eyes over to a laughing Burt, the man simply shrugging and taking his place at the head of the family table.

“A makeshift table for a makeshift family,” Jude laughed gently, taking the seat beside Cooper, bowls of salad dotted around the table. Everyone else taking a seat where possible and digging in as soon as Kurt and Noah delivered everyone’s pasta before finding their own spots within the new family dynamic.

“Erm Burt,” Cooper smiled tentatively, avoiding the man’s eyes as he focused on his pasta with a soft grin, “Just a word of warning that you may want to keep an eye on what the twins get up to as best as you can.”

Burt’s eyebrow rose slightly, glancing around the sheepish looking youngest Anderson’s and their smirking older brothers’. “Why?”

Elijah sighed gently, passing the salad to Sam when it was requested. “They tend to get a little adventurous when they’re alone together.”

“They’re worse than us together at times,” Austin grinned, nodding towards Pippin, laughing as Burt and Carole paled slightly, Bentley and Blaine half-heartedly attempting to protest the elder brother’s statement.

Noah nodded, thoughtfully twirling his pasta around his fork and looking towards the parental figures at one end of the table. “They never turn down a dare from each other, which has been relatively disastrous in the past.”

“Do I even want to know?” Burt murmured, running one hand down his face, fighting to hide a smile.

“Let’s see, where to begin,” Lucas laughed softly, “Erm well Blaine effectively abseiled off of the roof with a skipping rope after Benny said he’d done it without injuring himself and managed to get a broken ankle and wrist out of that one when they were nine, which realistically was god damn lucky all things considered.”

“And it was just last summer that Blaine shoved Bentley’s skateboard from the top of Furnace Bank after daring him to traffic weave which resulted in Benny trying to dodge the traffic for the next ten minutes…in rush hour,” Reed continued, a small smirk crossing his face at the memory of finding Bentley bouncing up and down with excitement wanting to go again, once they finally caught up with him of course. The only thing that had effectively stopped him from doing so was Elijah dragging the twins away whilst screeching at them.

Burt turned to stare incredulously at the identical twins sat at the end of the makeshift table, Kurt sat between them a disbelieving look filtering into his horrified features. The twins simply glanced at one another and folded their hands neatly on the table, each wearing matching angelic expressions.

“Who us?” Bentley questioned innocently, a sweet beam taking over his face, “We’re angels.”

* * *

“ 'mmm so tired Kurt,” Blaine murmured, crawling up Kurt’s body until he could collapse with his head on Kurt’s chest, entwining their legs carefully on the queen sized bed.

Chuckling, the older boy leant back on his pillows, gently working his way through Blaine’s curls, ridding them of the gel encompassing them. “Well everything’s finally moved in, no real help from Bentley there,” Kurt chuckled when Blaine moaned again, his face pressed against Kurt’s chest. Tenderly, the blue eyed boy pressed a kiss to his forehead, shuffling them further down the bed before grabbing his remote and flicking on 'Toddlers and Tiaras’ at a low volume. “This show terrifies me,” He muttered, shaking his head with wide eyes at one of the girls’ dance routines.

The smaller boy cracked one eye open, laughing softly, “Stop watching it then.”

Kurt shuffled again, grinning at Blaine’s soft whine when he was dislodged from his chest, until he was on his side, face to face with his boyfriend. “But Blaine, it’s just so good. I mean who knew just how many sequins you could fit on one bit of material.”

Blaine huffed out a laugh, his breath ghosting over Kurt’s face. “Come here you.”

The taller of the duo instantly grinned wickedly, flipping them quickly, laughing at his boyfriend’s squeak of surprise. Hovering over his boyfriend, he lovingly pressed their lips together, feeling Blaine’s hands wander down to the bottom of his shirt, making quick work of untucking it from his tight jeans. Kurt himself made quick work of Blaine’s t-shirt, smirking at the younger boy’s whine when he pulled away to pull it over his head and toss it somewhere else in the room.

Suddenly the door crashed open, Finn and Bentley giving a quick shriek of horror, fighting to cover each other’s eyes quickly. The couple on the bed groaned, Kurt dropping fully onto Blaine and pressing his face into his neck as they tried to regain their breath, the older reaching over to grab Blaine’s top from the floor once more.

“I hate them,” He whispered to Blaine, sitting up and pulling the teenager between his legs when his shirt was firmly in place once more.

“Is it safe to look yet?” Finn squeaked, eyes scrunched up where Bentley’s hands had left his face.

Rolling his eyes, Kurt picked up one of the pillows and hurled it at his brother, satisfying in Finn’s grunt when it hit his face. The taller teenager’s eyes snapped open and he glared at his brother from the doorway, throwing the pillow back at Kurt, glare intensifying when the blue eyed boy simply caught it and put it back into place again

Bentley’s eyes opened, a beam spreading across his face when he heard Finn’s grunt of pain. “Blainey I am pretty sure that Burt said you’re supposed to be sharing my room not Kurtis’s room.”

“Stop calling me that that is not my name,” Kurt muttered, rolling his eyes in sync with Blaine, which made the two hovering in the doorway shudder slightly.

“Well I’m pretty sure that Burt’s got an open door policy and this door seemed fairly closed to me,” Finn smirked, folding his arms across his chest, Bentley mirroring his pose.

Kurt quirked an eyebrow, “Yes because you and Rachel never once broke that rule Finn,” He snapped, smirking at the red hue colouring the older step-brother’s cheeks.

“Yeah, well, erm…”

“Thought as much,” Kurt snickered, pressing his face into Blaine’s curls.

“I’m still right though, right? Burt did say you were my roommate not Kurt’s Blainey,” Bentley pouted.

“Eurgh, I hate you both get out!” Blaine yelped, hurling one of the other pillows at the sniggering pair, glaring when it hit the door that they’d pulled halfway closed behind them before taking off up the corridor. “Your dad sent them up to do that didn’t he?” Blaine yawned widely.

“That would be my guess. Go to sleep mon petit trésor.” Kurt flickered his attention back to the television, carding his fingers through Blaine’s hair soothingly.

“Already halfway there,” He mumbled quietly.

“I love you.”

“Mmmhmm, love you too,” Blaine whispered drifting off to sleep against Kurt’s chest.

 


	9. Shooting Star

“Hey Blaine!” Bentley called shouldering his backpack and sprinting up the corridor to catch up to his waiting brother.

“Yes Benny?” The younger asked, smiling apologetically at a freshman as Bentley almost crashed into her and her friend. Rolling his eyes at the scoff he received in return, he turned his attention back to his twin, heading for the choir room once more.

“This is probably going to sound bad.” Bentley chewed his bottom lip, carefully thinking of how to phrase his question before figuring that simply coming out with it would be the best option, “Is Brittany crazy? I mean I genuinely enjoy spending time with her and she’s awesome and all don’t get me wrong, she just seems a tad insane.”

Blaine chuckled softly, “She’s not crazy or insane. Brittany’s just…Brittany. She’s one of a kind.”

Levelling his brother with a look and quirking his own eyebrow, Bentley rested one hand on his hip, “The entire glee club just sang a love song to her cat because she thought an asteroid was heading to the earth to kill us all Blaine. That’s not exactly normal behaviour.”

Shrugging Blaine grinned, “Like I said, she’s one of a kind and damn amazing for it. Besides, you’re not exactly normal either Benny.” Blaine smirked as Bentley opened his mouth to retaliate only to snap it shut moments later throwing a dirty look Blaine’s way instead.

“Mary-Kate, Ashley!” A voice yelled from further up the corridor, Blaine cringing and turning to look at Sue even as Bentley’s mouth dropped open.

“Is she… is she talking to us?”

Blaine sighed deeply, rolling his amber eyes as Sue tapped her watch and headed back into her office. “Sadly yes she is. Come on, we can’t put of the inevitable.”

“This school is literally filled with crazy people. I’ve actually woken up in a dream world, possibly a nightmare world,” Bentley muttered to himself with a shake of his head. “Not one ounce of this place is normal.”

Following Blaine into the office at the end of the corridor, Bentley let out a low whistle at the sight of the numerous trophies in varying sizes (mostly floor to ceiling and therefore taller than the twins themselves) that aligned the long wall of the office. His eyes scanned the pictures of numerous cheerleading teams littering the walls, shooting Blaine a smirk when he encountered Kurt’s young smiling face on a previous teams picture. Snickering at the red hue flooding his brother’s face, Bentley threw his bag onto the floor and collapsed into the seat beside his younger twin raising an eyebrow at the Principal.

Eyeing them both closely and shuddering, Sue stood up, hands clasped behind her back as she paced back and forth behind her desk. “I’ve been told by various sources that twins are in fact not the creepy little clones that I’ve always assumed them to be,” Pausing to eye up the incredulous boys, she shuddered again. “And not that I see it at all personally but apparently twins are hot.” She stated, Bentley almost falling off of his seat as Blaine’s jaw dropped.

“Principal Sylv-”

“Shh Thing 2, I’m getting to my point.” The intimidating woman cut Blaine off with a raise of her hand, Bentley shooting Blaine a disbelieving look even as the younger of the duo shrugged in confusion. “The Cheerio’s need a boost this year. We lost many of our stars last year and we’re relying on Brittany, Becky and Thing 2 here to co-captain this sinking ship back to the top. Therefore I have decided to help Coach Washington by demanding that you join up too Thing 1 and therefore we can use you as a stunt double or something for Thing 2.”

Bentley spluttered in shock, opening his mouth to protest before thinking better of it at the look on Blaine’s face and the tiny shake of a head, which all but promised him that any protests would go unheard.

“Even better, we can use this freaky thing of you being side by side to perfect mirror image choreography.” Sitting back at her desk she picked up a uniform and threw it at Bentley. “You start Monday Thing 1.” Looking back to the papers on her desk, she gave no more attention to the two stunned teenagers sat opposite her, the duo dismissing themselves a few minutes later.

“Blaine, what the hell?” Bentley hissed, cramming the uniform into his bag.

Blaine snickered slightly, “Sorry Benny, what Sue says goes. She’s impossible to argue with most of the time.”

“But…but I don’t want to be a cheerleader,” Bentley whined, jumping when a weight landed on his back, “What the hell?”

“What’d Sue want?” Kitty questioned, pulling a lollipop from her mouth, Sam and Marley jogging to catch up with the trio on their way to glee club.

“I’m a Cheerio now,” Bentley pouted, turning his neck so that he could see Kitty properly.

“Wait, seriously?” She sniggered, sniggers giving way to full force laughter when Blaine nodded and Bentley pouted further. “Oh my god, that’s hilarious, Benny you’re not flexible at all.”

Frowning, Bentley wrapped his arms around the small girl to ensure she didn’t fall from his back. “Hey! I can dance, just because I can’t do the stupid splits.” Smirking when Kitty only laughed louder, Bentley wrapped his arms tighter, taking off up the corridor at full speed as she screamed, twirling every so often for full effect.

“Does that friendship scare anyone else?” Marley asked quietly, walking slowly between Sam and Blaine as the three took advantage of the path that Hurricane Bentley had created through the corridor.

“Every single day,” Blaine sighed, Sam nodding his head vigorously.

Bentley and Kitty crashed into the choir room moments later, giggling as the others followed slowly behind, shaking their heads as Mr Schuester herded them towards the chairs, eager to start the lesson. Grinning when Coach Beiste appeared in the doorway, he waved a hand towards the almost full room, his grin widening further.

“Join us for our first ever thank god the world isn’t ending glee practice,” He beamed, rolling his eyes fondly as the teenagers slowly filtered past him.

“It’s where I get to throw junior mints at Marley without feeling guilty again,” Kitty smirked, reaching up to slip her bag down from her back, dodging Mr Schuester’s hand with a dirty look as he tried to get her to hurry up and sit down.

“Not cool Kitty,” Bentley shook his head, rocking back on the back two legs of his chair.

The blonde cheerleader quirked an eyebrow at him and dropped into the seat beside him with a huff. “Can it curls.”

“Love you too Jelly Bean,” Bentley smirked, instantly dodging Kitty’s hands as she started to hit him, shrieking and laughing.

“You are never coming anywhere near my house again Bentley Anderson!”

“Never going to happen. Your Mom loves me too much.”

“I’m not even going to ask,” Blaine muttered taking the seat beside his snickering brother as Kitty retreated to the seats behind them, grumbling under her breath and sending Bentley occasional scowls.

Finally gaining control of the club Will shot Coach Beiste a quick smile before turning back to the club. “All right, let’s get started,” Clapping his hands together, the entire room jumped and froze as the sound echoed throughout the room and hallway, a scream quickly following. Moments later, a second shot rang out, the room quickly mobilising as scared teenagers looked to their choir director for guidance. “Everybody spread out and hide, quickly.” He set about pushing the glee club members into corners and behind equipment while Coach Beiste closed and locked the door, debating whether or not to press something up against it. Spying the blonde teenager dithering out of the corner of his eye, he swiftly pushed her towards Jake and Marley. “Kitty, go over there”

The girl panicked momentarily, “No wait.” She glanced over to Bentley and Artie, then round to Unique and Ryder, before heeding the teacher’s advice and crouching with Jake and Marley.

Blaine and Bentley quickly and quietly lowered Artie to the floor before attempting to push the piano over, wincing simultaneously when the metronome dropped to the floor, the tick tocking seeming exceedingly loud in the silent room. Bentley hastily grabbed Blaine’s hand, pulling the younger boy down next to Artie and clutching him close, feeling his brothers heart hammering wildly in his chest, their breath out of synch as each tried to calm down as much as possible.

The hallways outside of the choir room had erupted into chaos. Crashes of running feet slapping against the ground, terrified voices and slamming doors all echoed throughout the large room, the only noises coming from inside the darkened choir room that of the stuttered breathing of the members of the glee club and their teachers. Multiple pairs of wide, scared eyes flittered around the room in an attempt to find something to focus on.

Blaine raised his head slightly, gulping twice to get his racing thoughts under control, “Are we even sure those were gunshots?” He whispered. Bentley slapped his hand over Blaine’s mouth, sending him a terrified, wide eyed look even as another gun shot rang out through the school, a far off sounding cackling following to confirm their worst fears.

Mr Schue moved quickly through his students, checking that they were all alright, despite their obvious terror. “Shhhh guys. Start texting, tweeting, let everyone know what’s going on but don’t say where we are. Remember shooters have smart phones too.” He winced as a haunting rendition of a woman singing ‘Rock a Bye Baby’ drifted up the corridor, Marley whimpering and burying her face in Jake’s shoulder. “Guys, we’re all just going to stay here, together. We’ve got nowhere to be and we don’t know what’s out there.” The sound of more footsteps running startled them all. “Shhh, Shhh. I love you guys. We’re going to be all right. Everything will be all right.”

* * *

“Please, please, you have to let us in!” Tina sobbed hysterically, Brittany’s hand clasped tightly in hers as they stood at the barricade desperately trying to plead with the police officers guarding it. “Our family is in there. Please!”

Tina continued to sob as the officers once more rebuked them, protesting only slightly as the blonde girl tugged her away from the barriers through the throngs of terrified and bewildered students, school staff and parents who were already on the scene. Clinging tightly to each other, the anxious pair continued to look for those that they new, those that had hopefully managed to get out of the school before all this had begun. Spotting a frantic man standing head and shoulders above everyone else, the two launched themselves at Finn, the tall boy catching them just in time, blinking in confusion before wrapping his arms tightly around the shaking girls.

“Britt, Tina? Where are the others?” He managed to gasp out when he pushed the two off of him, Brittany clinging to his arm and shaking her head, tears still falling from her eyes.

Tina shuffled, stemming her own tears with the sleeve of her cardigan. “We don’t know Finn. We were supposed to be starting Glee practice but we came outside to try and get some sun during our free right before everything started up. As near as we can figure they’re all in there somewhere.”

Finn let out a strangled noise, pulling the blonde and the brunette closer once more when their sobs started back up. “They’ll be okay. Mr Schue will have them all together in the choir room and they’ll be fine. They will be fine.” Holding the girls close, Finn glared at the birds chirping happily on the grass beside them before turning his worried stare back to the now silent school, no longer a scene of hoards of students frantically trying to leave the building.

* * *

“Artie what are you doing?” Bentley hissed, glaring at Artie’s camera and the red flashing light now aimed at himself and his brother.

“If we don’t get out of here people need to see this. They need to know.”

Blaine whimpered weakly, burrowing closer to Bentley. The elder continued to glare at Artie, shoving the camera away from the two of them when he pushed it slightly closer to them. “Artie so help me god if you don’t get that thing out of our faces I will throw it across the room and that will attract unwanted attention of the worst kind,” He growled lowly, a spark a fear and anger flashing through his darkening hazel eyes.

“Erm, does anyone else have anything they need to say?” Artie murmured, eyes flickering around the tight knit group squashed alongside the piano.

Sam nodded quickly, scooting away from the twins and towards Artie even as Bentley glared and Blaine watched him with intrigue, his head rested on Bentley’s shoulder. “Erm, Mom, Dad, Stacey, Stevie, I love you guys so much and I’m sorry that this happened like this with you guys across the country if anything does happen. Please just remember I love you all. Burt, Carole, thank you so much for everything that you’ve done for me, you’re the second parents I never thought I would have. Erm there is a cat in my locker. Please feed her and look after her for me?”

“Sam what the hell?” Bentley whispered, alarm and amusement flittering across both his and Blaine’s faces as they pulled away from each other slightly.

“Dudes has anyone told you guys that you have the same facial expressions because it’s like mega freaky right now.” Sam shivered, shuffling back over to Blaine’s side once more. The twins rolled their eyes simultaneously, Sam shuddering once more as they watched him intensely. “Cut it out that’s creepy.”

Artie turned away from the three, allowing them to have a silent conversation as he continued to film along the line of those waiting to have their say. Eventually he turned the camera on himself and detailed his love for the family he had found in this room, smiling sadly at the camera before turning it off, plunging the room into near silence once more, the only noise the tick-tocking of the metronome.

A locker slamming somewhere in the school had them all jumping. They clung tightly to each other once more as their breathing sped up, listening for the terrifying sounds of something happening deep within the corridors of the school, no sound following the slam.

“I have to go,” Kitty cried out, shuffling away from Marley and Jake, each of who tried to hold her back. “No, let me…I have to.”

“Shhh,” Mr Schuester muttered from by the door, oblivious to the turmoil going on behind the amps as both Bentley and Blaine reached out to try and cling onto the trembling girl.

“Kitty, wait,” Blaine gasped, losing his grip on her as the girl managed to pull herself free from the foursome trying to hold her back, sobbing as she army crawled out of their grasp before flinging herself across the room.

Bentley breathed out a sigh of relief when she threw herself at Unique and Ryder, sharing a look with the younger boy to watch out for her now she was no longer in his grasp. Receiving an almost unnoticeable nod in retaliation, Bentley turned back to the group he was sat with, Sam suddenly up and moving from Blaine’s side even as the gelled haired boy tried to wrap an arm around his ankles.

“I need to go. I need to find Brittany. Please. I have no idea where she is or if she’s in or out of the school, but I have to find her. She could be all alone and she’ll be terrified. I don’t know where she is and please, I can’t leave her alone. I can’t,” He rambled, pushing himself closer and closer to the choir room door.

“No Sam. You cannot go out there,” Mr Schuester murmured, trying to grab hold of the teenager now violently shaking his head.

“No. I don’t care. I don’t care. I have to get to her.”

“Sam no!” He growled managing to wrap his arms around the blonde at the same time that Coach Beiste did, the two of them hauling him away from the door and shoving him further into the room, Sam fighting them every step of the way, kicking his legs out and trying to manoeuvre his arms out from under theirs.

“Let go of me! I have to…I have to get to her…I have to…”

Mr Schuester managed to shove a hand over the teenagers mouth, his muffled shouts of 'let go of me’ and 'I don’t care’ the only noises in the room as the others tried to stifle their cries, tears streaming down most of their faces once more as they tried to stay silent.

“Sam stop, you have to stop,” Coach Beiste pleaded, arms still wrapped around the boy. “You are putting everybody’s life in danger. Look at them,” She muttered, Sam beginning to calm down as sobs overtook him once more when he looked around his terrified classmates. “Sam, it’s okay. It’s okay. Go sit with Artie and the twins.” Carefully the teachers’ lowered him to sit beside the trio, glancing to each other before taking up residence by the door.

“Tina isn’t here either,” Blaine whispered, sending Sam a faint smile, “Hopefully they’re together and got out safely.” Sam nodded, taking one of Blaine’s hands and squeezing tightly when it was offered.

“I am in agreement about one thing though, we need to get out of here. This is taking forever,” Bentley muttered, shifting round and spreading his legs out momentarily. “I just want to know what the hell is going on.” The others around him nodded their agreement, Blaine suddenly turning pale as he tugged insistently on Bentley’s arm, the elder brother turning to look at him with a raised eyebrow and red eyes.

“Oh god, what if they can’t tell us apart?” Blaine whimpered, knuckles whitening where he grasped Bentley’s hand tightly in his own, hazel eyes gazing into the identical fiery set staring back at him.

Wincing slightly, the older twin pried Blaine’s hand a little looser, wrapping his other arm around his brother for good measure. “Your hair is cemented to your head and you have a microphone print bow tie on Blaine. Worst case scenario happens - which is not going to happen we are getting out of here - I don’t think that they’ll have any trouble telling us apart.” Bentley shot him a weak smile, clutching Blaine’s hand tighter again and closing his eyes in fear as another chorus of 'Rock a Bye Baby’ drifted up the corridor.

A watery chuckle left Blaine’s lips almost silently as he shuffled as close as possible to his brother and buried his face in his shoulder.

“I love you Bentley.”

“I love you too Blaine.”

* * *

Burt Hummel had only ever felt his heart thundering against his chest in the constricting terror that it was currently in three times before in his life. The first was when he found out that there was nothing more that could be done for his Lizzie, her disease was going to take her away from himself and their young son whether he liked it or not. The second was a panicky phone call from Kurt’s school when he was eleven and fell from the climbing frame hitting his head on the solid ground below and breaking his arm quite severely. The third had been when his son had admitted that someone had threatened his life. This time though, he could feel the panic creeping higher and higher. There were at least three of his sons’ stuck inside of the school building and to be more helpful, his mind couldn’t quite remember whether Finn was in college or helping out at the high school today. Three or four of his children were in a life threatening situation and there was nothing he could do to help them except get to McKinley high school as quickly as his car would carry him. His heart picked up speed once more as his foot hit the floor, the car flying through the streets of Lima at more than double the legal limit.

Carole closed her eyes tightly, ignoring the speed at which her husband was barrelling through the almost silent Lima streets. Clasping her hands tightly in her lap, she bowed her head and prayed for the first time in what felt like a long time, at least since Finn had been a small boy. Images of her boys’ kept assaulting her mind, Sam’s victory dance around the bowling alley two nights previously that had onlookers watching them as though they were crazy. Bentley jumping around the living room furniture last weekend screeching 'Livin’ La Vida Loca’ at the top of his lungs while Finn filmed him, both boys just about crying from laughter. And Blaine curled into Burt’s side just the night before, educating the older man on the Marvel movie marathon playing on the TV, Burt just shaking his head and attempting to take in all the information Blaine was throwing his way. Squeezing her eyes tighter as the car pulled to a stop, Carole finished her prayer and swung open her door following her husbands fast pace towards the barrier.

“My sons are in there!” He was yelling at a haggard looking police officer as she reached his side, placing a calming hand on his arm.

“I’m sorry sir, truly I am but many peoples’ children are in there, at this point in time there is nothing we can do but wait. SWAT are preparing to storm and they do have eyes on the perpetrator.”

Burt practically growled as he backed away from the officer, glaring steadily at the unwavering man who had had more threats from parents than he cared to think about over the last hour or so.

“Mom! Burt!” Both of their heads snapped up as Finn ambled towards them, Tina and Brittany following closely behind with their weary parents.

“Oh Finn thank god,” Carole murmured, wrapping her arms tightly around her son, “I thought you had college today?”

“I did, I was never in there. But they’re my brothers’, I had to come over as soon as I heard what was going on.”

“They’re definitely inside then?” Burt groaned, running a hand over the cap on his head as Finn, Brittany and Tina nodded solemnly, the girls’ parents pulling them away ten minutes or so later as the Hudson-Hummel’s settled in to wait for more news.

* * *

“All clear!” The voice rung out through the halls, the occupants of the choir room all eyeing each other up. “All clear!”

Will took a deep breath, glancing once at his students in their various huddles before moving to the door, unlocking it slowly only to come face to face with a member of the SWAT team. “All clear Sir, get your students out of here, their parents are probably out front looking for them.” Will nodded silently, the man shooting him a small smile before moving along to the next locked door.

“It’s over guys,” He breathed stepping back inside of the choir room, “It’s all over.” Watching them all stand up on shaky legs, clutching each other in tight hugs, the educator smiled at his friend and drew Coach Beiste into a tight hug, leading his students from the choir room into the bright sunlight.

“Sam, Blaine, Bentley!” A voice yelled and moments later the trio found themselves wrapped up in the arms of Burt Hummel, Carole and Finn following moments behind him and joining the family hug. “Thank god you three are okay,” The father murmured, holding his boys’ tightly and closing his eyes as he felt them tremble in his arms.

“Lets get you boys’ home,” Carole said soothingly, her arms still wrapped tightly around Bentley as Finn slung an arm around Blaine’s shoulders and Burt kept hold of Sam.

“Wait! We still don’t know what happened to Brittany or Tina,” Blaine cried, twisting out of Finn’s hold and scanning the crowds of crying students and their families.

Burt let go of an ashen faced Sam and stepped towards Blaine, clasping a hand on his shoulder, recoiling slightly when the teenager flinched violently. “They’re fine Kiddo. They were outside when everything happened so they were never involved and their parents forced them to go home when they got here. Finn will text them though and let them know that everyone’s fine.”

Blaine nodded weakly and allowed himself to be corralled towards the car as Finn pulled out his phone.

“The second we get home Sam you need to phone your parents and boys’ you need to phone Cooper so that they all know what’s gone on today. It’s been kept as hushed up as possible. As far as I know no one outside of Ohio has currently caught on to what’s happened,” Carole sighed, rubbing a hand up and done Sam’s shaking arm.

“How’d they manage that?” Bentley questioned in confusion, leaning on Finn.

“No idea Kid. It’ll inevitably be national news by tonight or tomorrow morning,” Burt sighed, pushing the boys’ towards the waiting car.

* * *

The sharp screaming had Bentley bolting upright in his bed, eyes quickly adjusting to the dark room. “Shit,” He muttered, vaulting to the floor from the top bunk and climbing straight into Blaine’s bed with him, pulling his still screaming brother close. “Blaine, Blainey calm down. You’re safe we’re safe. I promise. I promise you that we’re safe Blaine. It’s over.” The trembling boy burst into a fresh round of sobs even as Bentley drew him closer, pressing a tender kiss to the top of his loose curls.

A light flickered on in the hallway and moments later the door burst open to worried looking group of family members. Spotting the quivering boy in the bed and Bentley doing his best to console him, Carole was across the room and sat beside them in an instant, drawing Blaine into her own embrace.

“Oh sweetheart,” She murmured softly, rocking him gently as he continued to sob, his eyes wide with fright and flickering throughout the room, a lost look flittering over his face.

Bentley slipped carefully out of the bed from beside his brother, wincing when Blaine’s hand unexpectedly grabbed his wrist in a vice like grip. “I’ll be back in a minute Blaine, I’m just going to get you some water and sleeping pills.” Sighing when Blaine shook his head vehemently, Bentley used his free hand to pry Blaine’s from his wrist, stroking his brother’s curls off of his forehead. “No sleeping pills then, but I’m still going to get your water.”

The older twin quickly and cautiously slipped out of the room, his eyes meeting Burt’s and inclining his head towards the kitchen, the Father following him moments later with Finn and Sam hot on his heels.

“What the hell was that?” Finn questioned as soon as they reached the kitchen, Bentley standing over the kitchen sink breathing heavily.

Burt sent him a look before stepping up behind Bentley and placing a tender hand on his back. “Are you okay kiddo?”

Bentley shook his head silently, turning into Burt’s embrace. “Blaine’s been haunted by old ghosts for a long time. Sadie Hawkins. Our parents. And school in general was never kind to him, even having me and a few of the others around in elementary school did nothing to deter the bastards.” Bentley smiled ruefully at the sight of both Sam and Finn clenching their fists in mutual anger, attempting to imagine a world where Blaine had always had friends like those he’d found at Dalton and McKinley. “All it did was get us all in trouble for fighting more frequently. But Blaine has a form of PTSD and I think the stress from today has triggered that again. He’s not going to calm down for a while and I honestly have no clue on what to do with him when he gets into this state. It’s like he gets tunnel vision and all he can see or hear are the god-awful memories that he has, like everything good in the world disappears. I don’t know what to do.” Blinking tears out of his own eyes, Bentley gratefully sunk further into the man he was proud to now call his Father.

“I know kid, I know,” Burt mumbled soothingly running a hand up and down Bentley’s back. “Blaine’s always going to have his demons unfortunately that’s a given by this point. What I asked though was if you were okay,” Smiling sadly at Bentley’s look of shock when he pulled back Burt raised an eyebrow at the teenage. “The two of you aren’t a package Bentley. You are two entirely different people with entirely different thoughts and feelings, and it can’t be easy having just seen your brother lose it like that.”

The boy nodded, wrapping his arms around himself tightly, “I'm…okay. I’m just scared, it’s been a while since I’ve seen Blaine that freaked and there was always one of the others around before. I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“Wait!” Finn cried, a memory forming in his head. “I’ve seen Blaine like this before. After the whole slushie thing,” Bentley bristled, growling slightly as both Finn and Sam shuddered, “Rachel and I went with Kurt to see him. He fell asleep after a while but then he started screaming. I don’t really remember what Kurt did but I do remember that he calmed him down.”

Sam’s eyes flickered up to the clock hanging above the kitchen door, “It’s like two in the morning we can’t call Kurt now.”

“It’s Blaine.” Finn deadpanned with a raised eyebrow.

“Touché,” Sam said, a small smile dancing across his face and disappearing almost as quickly as it had appeared.

Bentley sighed softly, tugging his phone from his sweatpants pocket, proving how exhausted he had been when he fell asleep with it still in there, and turning it over and over in his hands. “Quick question though, did anyone tell Kurt what happened today?” Seeing the looks that Finn, Sam and Burt shot each other Bentley shook his head slightly, taking a deep breath. “I’m going to die at the hands of a blue eyed ex-cheerleader.”

Sam and Finn nodded solemnly, Burt shooting three of his sons a withering look. “Not funny guys.”

* * *

“Eurgh Bentley it’s two in the morning why the hell are you calling me?” Kurt whined, voice gravelly with sleep.

“Kurt,” A voice whimpered quietly, Kurt sitting upright immediately and diverting his full attention to the phone in his hand, flicking the bedside light beside him on, bathing the loft in its soft amber glow.

“Benny, what’s wrong? Is it my Dad? Is Blaine okay?” Kurt could feel his heart pick up in pace as the boy on the other end remained silent. “Bentley I swear to god…”

“Hummel, are you kidding me?! Some of us are trying to sleep,” Santana hissed tearing back the curtain surrounding his area, a sleep rumpled Rachel appearing at her side moments later. Seeing the boy in clear distress all anger left the two girls’ and they climbed into bed either side of him, watching Kurt’s face carefully as silence echoed from the phone.

“You don’t believe in god,” Bentley mumbled eventually, Kurt gritting his teeth in the effort to quell the need to strangle the second youngest Anderson.

“Bentley I will reiterate that it is two am, as in five hours before I have to get out of bed for the dance class from hell.”

“Kurt there was an incident. Erm…there was a shooting at school today,” Kurt’s heart hammered in his chest, face paling as Bentley continued in a soft tone, lamenting the day’s events to the older boy. “No one was injured, everyone’s just shaken up. The police don’t think that she ever intended to actually shoot anyone, just create scare tactics. Apparently her life went down the crapper and she blamed her time at McKinley for it.”

Blaine chose that opportune moment to start screaming again. The girls each pulled away from Kurt with a terrified look as the screams filled the loft through the cell phones tinny speakers. Bentley winced heavily at the thought of Kurt listening to the screams from hours away. “He’s not hurt Kurt I swear, just petrified. I don’t know what to do.”

Bentley’s quiet omission shocked Kurt back in action, face setting in a grim stance as Santana reached for his laptop. “Bentley we’re booking flights home now we’ll be there by morning. For now I need you to give your phone to Blaine for me.”

“Kurt, I don’t think that he’ll listen he’s so far gone right now…” Bentley murmured, already pushing past Sam and Finn and running up the stairs to the twins room, feeling tears burn at the back of his eyes at the sight of Carole huddling Blaine to her chest, whispering gently in his ears.

“Just give him the phone Benny, please,” Kurt muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose and flinching as Blaine’s screams filled his head. Pushing Rachel off of himself, he started throwing things into a duffle bag, not caring about the inevitable wrinkles in his clothes.

“We’ll be in Columbus just before six, the next flight out’s at four,” Santana mumbled, placing Kurt’s laptop back on his bed and pulling Rachel back through the open curtain at the incline of Kurt’s head symbolising his acknowledgement of her words.

The screams now the only sound he could hear, Kurt collapsed against the end of his bed, pulling his knees up to his chest and squeezing his eyes tightly shut before taking a steadying breath. “Mon Petite Trésor. Calm down for me, Sweetheart, please calm down. You need to remember to breathe Blaine. In and out, listen to me and try and copy please Blaine, I know that you can hear me, just listen to my breathing.” Kurt started to take exaggeratedly loud breaths, making sure that Blaine could hear him loud and clear as the screams gave way to gasping sobs and whimpers.

“K…Kurt,” Blaine sobbed and Kurt closed his eyes tighter at the fear in his voice.

“Yeah Petite Trésor, I’m here, breathe for me okay?”

“I’ll try.”

Kurt chuckled softly, “Please do more than try. It’s quite an important task B.”

He breathed a sigh of relief as Blaine’s breathing began to even out, a watery, squeaky laugh filling his ears. “I promise I will. I love you.”

“I love you too B and I’ll see you in a few hours, the only time I won’t be able to answer is between four and six, other than that ring me anytime you need me and I’ll pick up.”

“Kurt no, you can’t come home just because I’m being stupid. You’ve got classes and work and it’s just not worth it.”

A grim look flickered over Kurt’s face and he sat bolt upright. “I am coming home Blaine, that is non-negotiable end of. I need to see that you’re going to be okay with my own eyes. You’ve terrified me tonight.”

“Sorry.”

“Nothing for you to be sorry for. Can you put Benny back on for me? I need to make sure that he has a few details, but I’m here whenever you need to call and I’ll see you in a few short hours Petite Trésor.”

“Okay Mio Bello.”

“I love you Blaine.”

“Love you too,” He mumbled before there was a soft murmuring and Bentley’s voice in his ear again.

“How the hell did you do that?”

“Just remind him to keep breathing Benny and it’ll be fine,” Kurt sighed, standing back up and pulling out a change of clothes. “My phone’s going to be on whenever I can have it on so just ring if you need me. Santana’s Mom’s going to pick us up from the airport so I should be home just before eight give or take, keep him calm until then, yeah?”

“Carole’s shooed me into Sam’s room, she’s going to stay up with Blaine for the rest of the night but she’s insisting Sam and I sleep.”

“Good, you guys must need it by now.”

“Yeah,” Bentley sighed softly. “Hey Kurt? I thought your home was New York now?”

“My home is wherever Blaine is,” Kurt responded, cringing even as the words left his mouth, Bentley’s delighted laughter filling up the line.

“That is by far the corniest thing I’ve ever heard you say.”

“Doesn’t stop it being true, sleep delirium just means I lose my brain to mouth filter,” Kurt said, rolling his eyes when Bentley’s laughter only increased further. “Oh shut up little brother and go to sleep.” Kurt laughed, hanging up the phone to Bentley’s exhausted giggles filling the room.

* * *

At precisely twenty to eight the door to the Hudson-Hummel house burst opening, startling Blaine and Carole where they were sat with hot chocolate 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ playing quietly in the background. Blaine’s head lifted slowly from Carole’s shoulder as Rachel flew through the front room, shooting the pair a fleeting smile before taking the stairs to Finn’s room two at a time.

Kurt followed moments later, slamming the door and throwing himself into Blaine’s waiting arms as Carole moved out of the way with a sad smile. Blaine sunk into Kurt’s embrace, shaking and burying his head in Kurt’s neck as his tears started again.

“Have you been back to sleep yet?” Kurt mumbled, gentled stroking one hand up and down Blaine’s back in an attempt to soothe the tears.

Blaine shook his head, still not releasing the death grip he had around his boyfriend. “N..no, I’m t..too scared of wh…what I might see if I c…cl…close my eyes.”

Carole motioned going upstairs to Kurt who smiled sorrowfully back at her, watching her ascending back momentarily before pulling away from the boy in his arms slightly, placing his hands either side of his face. “Honey… you need to sleep. This isn’t healthy. You’ll be perfectly safe Blaine.”

Shaking his head forcefully, Blaine pulled away from Kurt. “No I can’t, I can’t, please don’t make me.”

“Oh Blaine,” Kurt sighed woefully, pulling the struggling boy back into his embrace. “Listen to me Honey, you need to sleep you’re exhausted. I’ll stay with you the whole time and I’ll be there if you have any nightmares at all.”

Studying his boyfriend closely, Blaine shook his head again, “No.”

Pressing his lips to Blaine’s temple, Kurt stood up and pulled Blaine to his feet, steadying him when he swayed off balance. “We’re at least heading upstairs to bed then, we can put a movie on or something if you’re so against sleep.”

The hazel eyed boy allowed Kurt to pull him upstairs and straight into Kurt’s own room, climbing up onto the queen sized bed and instantly crawling over the scarlet comforter to Kurt’s arms, falling into an automatic position with his head resting over Kurt’s heart. Feeling the tender little peck to his chest, Kurt grinned at the way his heart fluttered in reaction, pulling Blaine closer and sighing contentedly.

“I’m sorry my reaction was so over exaggerated,” Blaine mumbled in embarrassment. “Everyone else went through the same damn thing and none of them reacted as much like a baby as I have.”

“You look at me Blaine Anderson,” Kurt said sharply, Blaine’s eyes snapping up to meet his momentarily, Kurt’s eyes drifting away as his speech became more and more impassioned and he started gesturing around the room out of habit. “You are not weak, you are not a baby and your reaction was sure as hell not over exaggerated Sweetheart. Yes everyone else went through the same thing, but nobody else has been through what you’ve previously been through. They haven’t been beaten into a coma, or had the bones in one of their hands shattered by idiots who then didn’t even get punished for it. Blaine you’re one of the strongest people I know.”

Looking down at his boyfriend, Kurt laughed faintly at the boy now sleeping soundly on his chest, one arm flung across Kurt’s hips and a leg wrapped over the blue eyed boys. Silently, Blaine’s lips smacked together and he mumbled something inaudible, burrowing closer to Kurt, his face squashing into Kurt’s chest. Kurt gently ran one hand through Blaine’s loose curls, letting the other drift down to clutch Blaine’s where it rested on his hip. Studying the boy closely, Kurt played gently with his fingers, “I love you so much, more than you know. I don’t know what I’d do without you anymore Blaine.” Carefully extracting his hand from Blaine’s he quickly swiped at the tears on his cheeks before replacing his hand in Blaine’s seeking fingers, pressing a kiss to the top of Blaine’s curls, content to simply spend the day holding his boy close while he slept.

The door creeping open seconds later had Kurt’s head snapping round, a glare flitting over his features as he stayed perfectly still so as not to dislodge the sleeping boy. His gaze softened as Bentley and Sam stuck their heads around the door, edging slowly into the room.

“How is he?” Sam murmured eyes fixated on Blaine’s small figure.

“He’ll be fine,” Kurt smiled, running one hand through Blaine’s curls once more. “He just needs to be reminded that he’s not in the place that he was in three and a half years ago. He’s safe and nothing’s going to change that as far as I’m concerned.”

Bentley grinned, nodding slightly. “Thank god you knew what to do. You’re staying for the day right?”

“Of course I am,” The older boy scoffed slightly, “He would have been fine if I hadn’t come back too though you know? I’m mostly here for my own selfish reasons, that and once Rachel and Santana found out about yesterday there was no stopping them coming back here either. Tana says Brittany’s not in a great way either.”

Both boys’ winced heavily when Kurt shot them a look, Sam looking down at his shuffling feet when he mentioned that Santana was with Brittany. “We’re sorry that we didn’t phone or text yesterday Kurt. There was just so much going on that we didn’t even think about it to be honest.”

“I can see that. I’m actually not mad; it was just terrifying finding out at two in the morning and hearing Blaine screaming the way he was. But I said it before and I’ll say it again, he would have been fine even without me.”

“But he got better faster with you around,” Sam acknowledged with a gentle smile and small shrug, hitching his backpack higher up his shoulder.

Spying the school bags that the two were clutching to their bodies, Kurt raised an eyebrow, “You two are going in today?”

“Most of the school are as far as I know. No one was hurt and they caught the person who did it so there’s no reason for the school to stay closed,” Sam sighed, “We just want to get going in over and done with rather than avoid it forever. Brittany and Marley aren’t coming in until glee later though. Mr Schue wants to hold it in the auditorium.”

“None of us are ready to head back into the practice room yet,” Bentley said.

Kurt nodded, “You’ll both be fine. I’ll try and coax him in for glee too, but no promises and if he’s still sleeping I’m not waking him up.” Both boys’ nodded their agreement and Kurt smiled again rolling his eyes momentarily, “Chances are he’s going to want to do that of his own choice anyway though, he’s Blaine lets face it he’s a martyr.”

The boys’ stood in the doorway both let out quiet laughs, shaking their heads at the stubbornness of their brother and best friend. “Yeah, he’ll be there,” Bentley grinned, “Do you want anything before we go Kurt? You’re kind of stuck.”

“No kidding,” Kurt laughed, shuffling Blaine carefully, “Could you hand me whatever book he’s been reading from his satchel? I need to read past where he’s at.”

“That’s just cruel,” Bentley shook his head, leaving the room briefly only to return and hand Kurt Blaine’s copy of 'The Scorpion Trials’.

Taking the book Kurt sighed heavily, “I knew that he’d read ahead.”

“You’re actually reading a book series together?” Bentley questioned, rolling his eyes at their absurdness.

“Of course we are, but we’re only supposed to be on the fifty second chapter of 'The Maze Runner’. Four chapters a night, that’s our agreement.”

“Uh-huh, and how far through the book you’re holding are you?”

Kurt looked up at Bentley and grinned, “About two chapters ahead of where he already is.”

Laughing, the curly haired boy turned to follow Sam out of the room, “Carole said to let you know just to holler if you need anything she’s going to be in all day, switched her shift or something like that.”

Kurt nodded absentmindedly as the door swept shut behind them, pulling Blaine closer again and pressing another kiss to his head before pulling the book open to get further ahead than his boyfriend, knowing full well the race to finish the series first would commence almost as soon as Blaine woke up.

 


	10. On Our Way

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE TWINSIES! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!”

Bentley glared mutinously at the crowd of people stood in the doorway. Everyone from Cooper down through the brothers, and Ollie and Adam, to Warblers and past Warblers, New Direction members and former New Directions members, were presently stood in the open doorway, Burt and Carole’s echoing from another room. “Blaine make them go away,” He whined, rolling over and pulling the pillow over his head.

Blaine mumbled an unintelligible response, his blankets already pulled up over his head, a chuckling Kurt climbing into the bed with him. Kurt carefully kissed the blankets over the top of Blaine’s head, hugging the boy close to him. “Happy birthday baby,” He murmured gently, Blaine snuggling into him on instinct.

Austin and Pippin meanwhile had climbed up onto the top bunk and were doing their best to jump on it, pulling Bentley’s blankets away from him and singing ‘Happy Birthday’ again at the top of their lungs. Bentley whimpered, clinging to the bed frame as they continued to scream in his ear and attempted to pull him from the bed.

“How come Blaine gets woken up nicely with Kurt and I’m stuck with you two imbeciles?” The older twin groaned, pushing Austin from the top bunk onto Kurt and Blaine below and climbing down himself.

Blaine’s groan of pain resounded around the room moments later. He shoved Austin away from his feet and sat up, the blankets falling from him as he scooted backwards into Kurt’s arms and glared at his snickering brother. “I hate you all with a passion.”

“That’s just mean Blainey.” Austin pouted up at him from the floor, “And what’s with everyone pushing me today? Neither of you are very nice I’ll let you know.” Pippin rolled his eyes, pulling Austin to his feet and letting Cooper frog-march them from the room.

“Carole’s put a big breakfast on downstairs guys, I’d hurry up before the locusts descend,” Jude grinned, taking Ollie’s hand and following everyone else downstairs to devour Carole’s amazing cooking.

“I hate them,” Bentley yawned, climbing into the bottom bunk on Kurt’s other side and leaning his head on his shoulder.

“This is so weird,” The blue eyed boy muttered, eyes flickering between the two heads of wild curly hair resting on his shoulders, the twins giggling tiredly.

* * *

“First things first,” Cooper smiled when the twins eventually emerged from their room, Kurt half pulling half pushing them. Smiling softly at the baby brother’s that he had always been fiercely protective of, Cooper pulled each off them into tight hugs, “Happy eighteenth baby boys, you’re all grown up now.” Pulling away he ruffled their hair, ignoring their protests and the other brothers laughter. Kurt shot Cooper a look which effectively stopped him in his tracks as his hand reached out to ruffle Kurt’s hair.

“Try it and you’ll lose it,” Kurt growled, Blaine snickering softly as he ducked around the oldest Anderson and started to fill three plates with the food laden on the table.

Cooper blinked slowly, shrugging then grinning at the twins again, pulling two large white envelopes out of his back pocket. “You two know what these are I’m guessing?” The duo glanced quickly to each other before nodding swiftly, avoiding Finn, Sam, and the rest of the New Directions curious gazes, the Warblers and their brothers shooting them sympathetic smiles. “You have full access to them as of 2:48 this morning when Bentley originally decided to grace the world with his presence. Look after them, don’t lose them, and there are still other papers that we’ll need to go to the lawyer’s at some point to sign.” Handing them over, he smiled sadly when each of the twins gingerly reached out already glaring at the envelopes like they contained their enemies.

Bentley frowned steadily at the envelope, feeling the outline of the debit card that it held and shuddering to think just how much was contained in what suddenly seemed like an entirely too small package. Feeling the need to get the offending item out of his hands, he quickly tossed it down, wincing when it landed in a pool of tomato ketchup. Blaine quickly followed suit, tossing his on top of Bentley’s and accepting the plate of food Kurt pressed into his hands. Cooper meanwhile groaned quietly burying his face in his hands.

“Why do you all do this?” He glared around at his nine innocent looking brothers, “Every eighteenth and twenty first I tell you to be careful with these things and do any of you listen? Do you hell.”

“Coop, Coop, Coop, calm down brother dearest.” Reed smiled angelically at his older brother, stuffing a piece of waffle into his mouth, “Those things are basically indestructible regardless of what we do.”

“What the hell’s in them?” Puck said, eyes never leaving the two envelopes.

“Nothing,” The ten brothers chorused, quickly glancing around at each other, an uncomfortable silence flooding the room.

“Present time?” Austin grinned, grabbing the last strawberry from Jude’s plate amidst Ollie’s protests.

Pippin nodded enthusiastically, “Hell yes! We got Blaine that super freaking awesomely cool 'Mulan’ watch like months ago.”

“You’re an idiot,” Austin deadpanned, watching Pippin with a close look while the rest of the room exploded into laughter around them.

“Why what’d I d…” Realisation flooded Pippin’s face at the same time that Austin’s hand connected with the back of his head and he blushed profusely, “Sorry Blainers.”

* * *

“Hey Blaine?” Kurt called from the kitchen causing Blaine to pause his conversation with Jude and wander through the downstairs, smiling gently at the pictures of Kurt and Finn growing up, along with the newer ones depicting their now much larger family.

“Yes sweetheart?”

Kurt snorted, turning to flick water and soap suds at Blaine from where he was washing the many dishes from the large cake that the makeshift family had devoured an hour earlier. “Make us sound like an old married couple why don’t you?” He laughed, leaning over to press a kiss to Blaine’s cheek when he hopped up onto the black granite bench beside where Kurt was working.

“That’s the aim isn’t it?” Blaine grinned, the corners of his eyes crinkling slightly.

“Yes but not at eighteen and nineteen.”

“Fair enough. So…what’s up Buttercup?”

Kurt shot him a glare before dissolving into a fit of giggles. “I hate you sometimes, you know that?”

Blaine beamed, reaching over to pull Kurt into a chaste kiss. “We’ve been over this before. You love me, just as I love you. Especially when you’ve already had champagne with my brothers for breakfast and are ridiculously open and giggly Kurt Hummel.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Blaine scoffed, shaking his head at his boyfriend with a smile. “Sure you don’t. Seriously though why did you pull me in here?”

Kurt’s brow furrowed for a moment in deep thought causing Blaine to study his new watch to keep himself from laughing at his boyfriend. “Oh yeah,” Kurt suddenly beamed, pulling Blaine out of his thoughts as he tilted his head towards the window. “Benny looks like he could use someone right now and I figured that you’d be the best person for the job.” Blaine followed Kurt’s gaze until his eyes landed on his brother sat on Kurt’s ancient swing set at the bottom of the garden, one foot gently pushing himself backwards and forwards as he stared at the ground. “He needs you,” Kurt smiled, nudging Blaine gently with his shoulder.

Frowning, Blaine tilted his head to watch his brother closely before giving a decisive nod. Pecking another quick kiss to Kurt’s lips, he smiled forlornly at his boyfriend, “I’ll be back soon.”

Plunging his hands back into the chilling water in front of him, Kurt watched Blaine slide open the glass door and hop down the few steps of the back porch, walking slowly down the garden towards Bentley. Reed arrived to join Kurt in the kitchen soon after Blaine’s departure, automatically picking up the towel and starting to dry the dishes as Kurt placed them on the side. The two worked in a companionable silence, watching Blaine and Bentley out of the window.

* * *

“I’ve always wondered why there’s a swing set in the garden,” Bentley murmured, not bothering to look up from the slip of paper in his lap when Blaine dropped onto the swing beside him, pushing himself off from the ground lightly.

Shrugging, the younger Anderson brother smiled softly, “It was Kurt’s from when he was little. Burt said he threw a fit and refused to move without it.”

Finally raising his head to look at his brother, Bentley quirked an eyebrow up tilting his head to the side with a smirk. “That sounds divaish even for Kurt.”

Blaine brought himself to a stop, turning sideways on the swing to smile sadly at Bentley. “He used to play on it with his Mom all the time. They used to have who can jump the furthest and who can swing highest competitions.” Gently pushing himself from side to side once more the younger brother shrugged slightly. “Kurt said that she always let him win and he knew it, but it was just one of their things. She helped his Grandfather build it for him.”

“Oh,” Bentley sighed, his eyes leaving Blaine’s searching ones to focus on the ground once more, “I wish that Mother had done that sort of thing with us.”

“Yeah…” Blaine rested his forehead on the cool metal chain, knowing that dreaming about what they could have had had they had parents like Elizabeth and Burt Hummel was pointless, but unable to stop his mind wandering nonetheless.

“Blaine, I don’t know if I can handle this,” Bentley whispered, voice trembling, drawing Blaine out of his own head to watch his brother once more. “I’m eighteen years old and I’m a millionaire. That’s fucked up. It’s seriously, seriously fucked up. What am I going to do with two million dollars Blaine? There are people out there starving and dying. People who’ve worked all their lives and have nothing to show for it because of crappy pay rates, loans, credit cards, god alone knows what else hanging over them. I’m eighteen and I have more money than a lot of people will ever see in their entire lifetime, and I don’t know how to handle it.” Bentley was panting by the end of his rant, pacing back and forth in front of the swings, his hands tearing at his hair.

“You can,” Blaine said softly, Bentley whipping round to glare at him with a fire burning in his eyes.

“Are you freaking kidding me Blaine? I’m losing my mind and all you’re saying is 'yeah that’s fine, you can handle it’. Are you seriously kidding me right now?”

Shaking his head, Blaine calmly stood and pulled Bentley’s hands from his hair, sitting him carefully on the ground and dropping down beside him. “Benny, we’ve known our entire lives that this was coming. It’s weird and insane and utterly ridiculous, but we’ve known it was coming since we could understand the concept, what’s got you so rattled now?”

Bentley picked out some of the grass, opening his hand to let the wind carry it away before repeating the process. “I decided to be a smartass and check my bank balance at the ATM when I was out with Coop before. It stands at two million and forty three dollars. It’s never been above three hundred before and I think it just royally freaked me out. No one should have that many digits on their bank balance.”

“It’s why I’m not looking until we decide what we’re doing with it,” Blaine smiled, nudging Bentley slightly. “We’ve always known that we don’t need all of this Benny. What we do need is money to survive college, although we’re both determined to get jobs so even that amount declines, if we manage to get something, and something to set us up for the future. Other than that we have what, three credible charity ideas floating around that we’ve always wanted to set up, right? Or have you had a change of heart about them?”

“You still want to do them,” Bentley breathed, eyeing Blaine incredulously.

The younger twin scoffed, looking slightly offended by his brother. “What did you think I suddenly had all this money and had changed my mind about something that we’ve discussed almost our entire lives? Thanks Benny. Thanks a lot.”

Bentley laughed, rolling his eyes at Blaine’s dramatics and leaning his head on Blaine’s shoulder, prodding him in the side when he continued to look away from Bentley. “Come on Blainey. You know I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just been one hell of a day is all.”

“It’s been as terrifying for me as it has been for you Bentley. I’m fucking scared,” Bentley’s head whipped up at Blaine cursing, taking in his trembling hands. “I mean how the hell do we know what to do? How much should we keep and how much do we put aside? How much do we use to set up a charity? How much do we give to existing ones? What do we do?”

Taking his brother’s hands gently, Bentley grinned, feeling more confident than he had all day. “I suppose that’s where having eight older brothers comes in useful huh? They’ve all been through this before. I know for a fact that Jude, Elijah, and Pippin at least have been waiting for us to come of age to start setting up a charity.” He snorted indelicately, “Let’s face it Cooper would have had anyone’s heads if they squandered that money away, and he’s not about to let us do anything stupid either.”

“Except let us sweat on it for a few hours, right?” Blaine muttered dryly.

“To be fair, I think he’s done that to everyone.” Bentley tilted his head to the side, a grin filling his face. “Remember when Luc turned eighteen and he kind of just wandered around holding his card at arms length and glaring at it the entire day muttering about how no one should hold that much power and how we should keep him off of the Barnes and Noble website?”

“Or when Austin wouldn’t stop screeching about not wanting to grow up and going to live in Neverland so he didn’t have to be responsible?”

“What about Noah’s refusal to go to the lawyer’s offices when he handcuffed himself to the stairs in protest of receiving the card?”

“Those assholes!” The twins chorused, realisation dawning on the pair of them fits of laughter taking them over.

“So we go to New York in the summer. You’re heading for Columbia and I’m heading to NYADA and we are going to take that city by storm. We will stop freaking out about what’s going on because we’ll be fine and we’ll be able to help people,” Blaine grinned, feeling lighter than he had all day. Holding his pinkie out, his grin widened further when Bentley immediately hooked his own little finger around his younger brothers.

“Spit shake on it?” Bentley beamed, pushing up the grey sleeves of his 'Fall Out Boy’ hoodie.

Blaine shrugged, pushing his rolled up shirtsleeves further up his arms. “Of course for old times sake.” Both boys spat into their own hands before smashing the two together in a handshake, laughter flowing freely.

“Please tell me that I didn’t just see that?”

The twins whipped around guiltily to face a disgusted looking Kurt walking down the garden towards them. His nose wrinkled up and he shook his head in fond amusement when he reached the duo.

“That is disgusting,” he muttered with a shudder, the twins laughing at his very blatant revulsion.

“Well we already pinkie linked on it, so a spit shake was the only way to complete the deal,” Benny shrugged, standing up and dusting off his pants.

“Come here,” Blaine smiled, reaching out to tug Kurt close.

“Uh uh, no way in hell,” Kurt grimaced jumping backwards, “Not until you’ve washed and sanitized your hand, that is utterly gross.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but Blaine’s spit laden hand should be something you’re intimately acquainted with by now,” Bentley smirked, inspecting his finger nails and refusing to look up at the two boys throwing his exceedingly dirty looks.

Blaine rolled his eyes at his brother and stood up from the floor, glancing to Kurt innocently.

“Blaine no, no don’t you dare!” Turning on his heel, Kurt started to run away from his boyfriend with a screech, Blaine hot on his heels. Bentley watched them go with a laugh before jumping back onto one of the swings, pumping himself higher and higher. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, feeling the wind brush against his face as he flew through the air.

* * *

Bentley bounced over to the corner beside the stairs, raising an eyebrow at a pouty Blaine and an irritated looking Kurt with his arms folded across his chest, his drink dangling uselessly from one of his hands. “What are you two pouting in the corner for?” Drinking the last dregs from his bottle he quickly grabbed Kurt’s cup and replaced it with his now empty bottle, smirking when Kurt tried to protest. “I’m the birthday boy Kurt are you really going to deny me a drink on my birthday?”

Kurt gritted his teeth, shooting Bentley a look that could easily kill. “One of the birthday boys,” He said but made no effort to take the cup back, choosing instead to stare moodily across the living room.

“Seriously what’s up with you two? It’s a party.”

“Kurt leaves tomorrow night,” Blaine sighed sadly, Kurt reaching out to take his hand gently.

“Wait you’re only here one night?” Bentley’s eyes widened, seriously having expected Kurt to be staying until Monday or Tuesday at the earliest.

Turning back to Bentley, the older teenager nodded with a sad smile, “Yeah there’s far too much work at NYADA at the minute for me to justify being in Lima for longer than the night. I have a performance to prepare for on Monday, so Rachel, Tana, and I are on the ten a.m. flight tomorrow, god help their hangovers for that.” Scowling, Kurt pulled Blaine closer, watching Rachel happily giggling with a bunch of Warbler’s, Puck, and Finn, a bottle of tequila making the rounds of their group while Santana made out with Brittany in the corner, the blonde quite contently sat on her lap.

Bentley smirked watching Kurt’s fingers flex on Blaine’s hip before digging in slightly, his brother shivering slightly under the touch of his boyfriend. “So you guys are horny then?”

“Bentley!” They both yelled scandalized and quickly waving off the attention they’d received from the various groups in the room, namely Sebastian and Reed eyeing them curiously from where they were surprisingly closely intertwined on the loveseat closest to the trio. When the two of them finally turned back to their own conversation Kurt shook his head faintly at their obliviousness to their own feelings before glaring at Bentley who was now sniggering openly.

“What the last time you were here, Blaine was in meltdown mode after the shooting thing,” All three of them winced heavily, Kurt drawing Blaine closer still, “And the last time Blaine was in New York was ages before that, so it’s kind of the obvious conclusion.”

“Okay fine yes, yes we’re horny. Are you happy now?” Kurt snapped, arms dropping from Blaine and a pout filling his face.

“Kurt!” Blaine yelped, turning wide eyes on his boyfriend as Bentley howled with silent laughter.

“What? It’s the truth and it’s damn well painful.” Kurt muttered eyes blazing as he leaned back into the wall with a huff. “A laptop and a phone can only do so much Blaine.”

Bentley snickered softly, Blaine shaking his head with a small smirk on his face and leaning back onto Kurt, the blue eyed boys arm automatically wrapping around his boyfriend and pressing a small kiss to the back of his neck.

“I’ll take one for the team. I just have the one condition and that is stay the hell out of our room and stick to Kurt’s room. Seriously I don’t need to stumble in there later and find you two on round gazillion and one.”

“Benny what are you talking about?”

Bentley smirked at them, “Just get ready to run upstairs while I create a distraction and keep them busy. I reckon I can give you an hour, maybe an hour and a half.” Pulling a lighter from his pocket he grinned at the puzzled couple. “Count this as part of my birthday present for you Blainey Boo, also you are going to owe me big style.” Winking, he turned away from them and cupped his hands around his mouth. “Hey Austin, Pippin want to play real ring of fire? I just need you to find the vodka.” The twins’ heads instantly popped up from where they had been crawling towards Wes, fully with the intentions of swiping his gavel key ring to give the Warblers more entertainment for the night. Their eyes sparkled mischievously, a silent conversation being held before they turned back to Bentley and nodded with matching grins, starting to crawl back towards the bar, keeping low to avoid Cooper’s questioning gaze. Bentley grinned as Elijah and Noah finally processed what he had asked the twins to play and started to edge around the room, eyes focused on Austin and Pippin’s movements. Turning back to his own twin, Bentley smirked triumphantly. “I have them distracted, do what you need to do, but do it in Kurt’s room yeah?”

Kurt and Blaine stared at him open mouthed for a split second before Kurt hurriedly pushed Blaine up the stairs, the birthday boy giggling and happily following Kurt’s orders, reaching back to grab Kurt’s hand to pull him along. The pair stumbled over their own feet and snickered noiselessly as they disappeared up the stairs and out of sight.

Bentley shook his head, turning round to meet Ollie’s sparkling, amused sapphire eyes, a smirk firmly planted on his face as he shook his head and turned back to his husband winking once at Bentley who looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Shock of his brother in law having been watching them vanishing, Bentley laughed once before moving away the stairs towards Austin and Pippin, flicking the lighter up again even as Cooper, Elijah, and Noah descended on them.

Pushing Blaine up against his bedroom door Kurt sealed his mouth over the shorter boys, one hand fumbling behind him to twist at the door handle and the other linking their fingers together. The pair tumbled into the room with a fresh round of giggles; Kurt making quick work of Blaine’s shirt and pushing him onto the queen sized bed, swiftly closing the door before turning back to his boyfriend with a wolfish grin. Blaine laughed and clawed at Kurt’s own shirt when he jumped on top of him on the bed, attaching their lips once more, their hands wandering without boundaries.

* * *

“You’re coming to NYC next weekend right?” Kurt mumbled quietly stroking one finger up and down Blaine’s bare back, the other arm wrapped around Blaine’s hips holding him close.

Rolling on top of Kurt Blaine folded his hands on Kurt’s chest and rested his head on them, grinning adoringly at his boyfriend. “Yeah. Benny, Seb, Sam, and I are coming to gate crash for the weekend. The others are staying with Jude though obviously.” Catching Kurt’s tender beam and raised eyebrow, Blaine’s eyes widened and he drew in a shaky breath. Kurt gently rubbed his back when his eyes welled up slightly, his own hands scrabbling to attach to the sides of Kurt’s face. “Really, you want to? Like really Kurt?”

Worried amber eyes met blazing cyan Kurt nodding with a faint grin. “Yeah B. I really, really want to do this, as long as you want it too? You’re finally of legal age as of today.” Taking one of Blaine’s hands in his Kurt watched closely as amber eyes flicker all over the room, Blaine’s Adam’s apple bobbing slowly as he swallowed tightly.

“It’s all I’ve ever wanted Kurt,” He eventually managed to murmur quietly, burrowing his face in Kurt’s chest and pressing a small kiss right above his heart.

Kurt beamed pulling Blaine as close as he could get him, cupping his face and kissing him softly, “Good, wait will your brothers kill me for this?”

Blaine giggled, burrowing his face into Kurt’s chest before looking back at him with sparkling eyes. “Possibly. But Ollie and Jude did it, so why can’t we?”

“You two had better be decent!” Ollie hollered before the door crashed open to reveal the older man, his hand slapped across his eyes. Blaine fell from the bed in shock with a resounding thump, dragging all of the covers with him and causing Kurt to yelp as he scrabbled to pull Blaine, and currently more importantly the covers, back onto the bed. “That yelp tells me that you’re not boys. Seriously? Practically everyone you know is downstairs.”

“Ollie get out of here!” They yelled simultaneously each pulling their own boxers back on, climbing safely under the covers once more, and shooting Blaine’s brother-in-law peeved, yet horrified looks.

Ollie slowly lowered the hand from his eyes, cracking one eye open and nodding when he was satisfied that they were decent once more. “Well that was nearly more of my brother-in law and his future husband than I ever wanted to see.”

Kurt growled lowly, reaching to the floor and tossing Blaine’s purple shirt to him before reaching for his own. Slipping it on, he let the covers fall to his waist and glowered at Ollie, “Well now that you’ve sufficiently interrupted, what do you want?”

“Well, I can see why Blaine’s generally cheerful,” Ollie smirked, eyeing up Kurt’s bare chest.

Blaine yelped and climbed onto his snickering boyfriend’s lap, effectively blocking Kurt’s chest from Ollie’s view. “Oliver you’re married.”

“And more than happy thank you very much but it doesn’t mean that I can’t look. Hell have you seen the dancers that Jude and I have to deal with in class Blainers?”

“I hate you.”

Ollie laughed again, “Love you too baby boy.” Ignoring Blaine’s yelp of horror and Kurt’s laughter he continued, “I just wanted to warn the pair of you that Cooper’s realised that you’re missing and he’s looking for you both. If I were you I’d put some clothes on and move those cute butts of yours downstairs ASAP. I can promise you that being caught in bed by Cooper is not fun.”

Leaning back on Kurt Blaine’s face scrunched up, “When did that happen to you like?”

Shuddering visibly, the older man glanced quickly to the stairs before looking back at the teenagers. “Two months or so after I moved to New York. The asshole waltzed straight into our apartment without knocking. Needless to say Jude and I are still scarred from the experience. I don’t think Cooper’s much better off either, and that was years ago.”

Kurt pulled a face and pressed a quick kiss to Blaine’s shoulder. “That sounds horrifying.”

“It was, and I’d hurry if I were you two, I can hear his voice getting closer. Also, he will tell Burt, it’s Cooper.”

Glancing quickly at each other, the couple quickly scrambled from the bed, Kurt sending Blaine’s black chinos flying across the room before hurriedly buttoning his own shirt. Blaine meanwhile was hopping around the room tugging his pants up while Ollie cackled at him, doubled over in his laughter. Locating Kurt’s skinny light blue jeans, he threw Ollie a glare before flinging them at Kurt, hitting the blue eyed teenager in the back of the head.

“You guys might want to hurry up, I’m almost ready to start singing 'he’s on the first step’ at you,” A British accent drifted down the hallway, moments before Adam stuck his head round the door with a grin. “Caught them in a compromising position then Ols?”

“Sure did,” Ollie beamed, laughing when Kurt shoved the pair of them out of the door and down the stairs with a scowl, Blaine following closely behind chuckling quietly.

“Blaine, Blaine, BLAINEY! I DID IT BLAINERS, I TOTALLY DID IT!” Bentley yelled, stumbling across the room to the ensemble descending the stairs, hiccoughing and tripping over his own feet before springing back up right and falling into Adam’s arms with a giggle.

“What did you do Benny?” Blaine snickered, taking the red cup from his hand and downing the contents in one with a grimace. “Jeez Bentley that’s pretty much straight vodka.”

“I know,” He grinned dopily, the majority of guests now surrounding the small group and laughing at Bentley’s obvious drunkenness. “But anyway, I totally kept them distracted for a whole entire hour so that you and Kurt could get your sexy on.”

“BENTLEY!” They both shrieked, blushes flooding both of their faces, Kurt burrowing his face into Blaine’s neck with a low whine.

Rolling his eyes with a grin, Lucas gently pulled Bentley out of Adam’s arms and tried to get the teenager to stand upright on his own. “Benny you’re such a loudmouth when you’re drunk.”

Bentley’s face swivelled towards his older brother, hazel eyes narrowing in contemplation before he stole Lucas’ bottle from his hand, “I don’t believe that.”

* * *

Feeling Blaine crash heavily into his side once more Kurt chuckled quietly to himself, instantly wrapping an arm around the boy and turning away from his conversation with Nick and Mercedes. “Hey honey, how’re you doing?”

Blaine giggled drunkenly, leaning further into Kurt to press a wet kiss to his cheek. “I’m perrrrrrrrfect.”

“I’m sure you are,” Kurt laughed, brushing the curls off of Blaine’s forehead from where they were starting to curl and break free from their gel hold after his insane dance battle with Reed and Mike. Kurt pressed a tender kiss to Blaine’s temple, eyeing the shorter boy in wonderment while Mercedes and Nick smothered their giggles at the boy now inspecting his own dancing fingers.

Blaine’s eyes shot back up to look at Kurt, a grin curling around his mouth. One finger beckoned Kurt closer until Blaine’s lips brushed against his ear. “Kurt, psst, Kurt, I think I’m a little drunk,” Blaine pulled back with a serious expression holding his thumb and forefinger a slight distance from one another, “Like this drunk maybe. But that’s not much.”

Kurt laughed again, wrapping his arm tighter around Blaine’s waist and turning them towards the stairs, waving goodbye to most of their friends as he led his intoxicated boyfriend away from the party and back to bed. “Oh sweetheart I know that you’re a lot bit drunk.”

“Not a lot,” Blaine whined, Kurt grimacing when he leaned backwards onto him halfway up the stairs, “Just a little Kurt.”

Glancing around the downstairs to make sure that everyone was still preoccupied with whatever they had been doing Kurt breathed a sigh of relief before continuing to push and prod his boyfriend up the stairs. “Okay Blaine, just a little bit.” Blaine nodded happily and allowed Kurt to drag him back into his room and quickly strip him down to his boxers before pushing him onto the bed.

“Do I still have to be an Anderson if we do this?” Kurt turned to look at Blaine from where he was rifling through a drawer and raised an eyebrow, Blaine watching his every move from the edge of the bed, hazel eyes wide and questioning. Pulling two pairs of sweatpants from the drawer, Kurt quickly stripped and pulled on a maroon pair, holding out his old navy and red Dalton ones for Blaine who shook his head petulantly and stuck out his lower lip, rolling to the other side of the bed to make room for Kurt. “Do I though Kurt?”

Kurt chuckled, throwing the sweatpants at Blaine before diving onto the bed, pulling the pants from where they had landed on Blaine’s head and wrestling his wriggling boyfriend into the pants before lying down beside him, panting slightly from the fight his intoxicated boyfriend had put up. Throwing an arm across his eyes, Kurt ignored Blaine’s pout and arms crossed across his chest fully aware that the hazel eyed boy was glaring at him, largely due to his aversion of clothing once he’d been drinking, especially when it came to also having Kurt in the bed.

“Kurrrrrt,” He sung, Kurt fighting not to laugh at Blaine by biting down on his own forearm. “Do I have to still be an Anderson, Kurrrrrrt?”

Giggling, Kurt rolled onto Blaine, clamping one hand over Blaine’s mouth to quiet his singing and pushing his curls out of his face with the other hand, “Not if you don’t want to Honey, but everyone will know what we’ve done if you change your name.”

Blaine blinked owlishly at him then licked his hand, Kurt’s hand flying from Blaine’s mouth with a disgusted yelp making Blaine smirk triumphantly. “What about if only we know and everyone else thinks it’s still Anderson? They don’t need to know.”

Kurt raised an eyebrow at Blaine once more, wiping his hand on the covers before going back to twisting Blaine’s curls in his fingers. “These are very sober thoughts for someone so drunk Blaine.”

“I’m aware of that.”

Kurt chuckled again, rolling off of Blaine and pulling the other boy to his chest, breathing in the raspberry scent from the remainder of the hair gel matted in the few plastered down curls.“ Go to sleep and we’ll discuss it if we go through with this.”

“Blaine Devon Hummel. It has a nice ring to it,” Blaine yawned, snuggling into Kurt’s neck, his long eyelashes brushing Kurt’s shoulder lightly. He promptly passed out and started snoring peacefully, mumbling the odd word here and there as dreams filled his head and took over his unconscious state.

Kurt sucked in a sharp breath, watching Blaine snore lightly in his arms, the sense of wonderment that this boy was all his, and only his, filling him with a sense of joy and wonder. “Yeah, yeah it does. It sounds incredible,” He grinned, one finger sweeping down Blaine’s cheek carefully, committing his sleeping face to memory for what felt like the millionth time in their short lives. Kurt chuckled at Blaine’s already snoring form and reached over him to switch of the light. The taller teenager cuddled the younger boy closer and pressed a light kiss to his temple, the sounds of the party below melting away to Blaine’s even breathing. “Blaine Devon Hummel, I can get used to hearing that one.”

 


	11. Sing It For The World

“That’s it! I give up, it is impossible to choreograph these guys!” Bentley glared around the group of glee club boys in particular, Blaine’s shoulders shaking with the effort to keep in his laughter. “Nationals is in one week and you still look like a bunch of uncoordinated bumbling idiots.”

Finn winced, “Benny we have to get this right. We can’t lose our nationals trophy, not now.”

Bentley mumbled under his breath, gaze sweeping around the sheepish looking choir group as the bell rang shrilly for first period. “Fine. Sam, Ryder, Joe, Sugar, Unique and Marley meet me in the auditorium as soon as lunch starts. Then all of you will meet me there after school and we will run through the entire choreography…again.” Grabbing his bag from the floor he ran his hands through his fly away curls. “Look I can’t sing for shit, but choreography? That’s my game. I can dance up a storm and damn it I will pull all of you kicking and screaming along with me if I have to. We’ll go all night if we have to.”

“All night?” Artie whimpered watching Bentley and Kitty sweep out of the choir room door.

Blaine shrugged, well aware of how serious Bentley could be when it came to choreographing. He had watched numerous ‘dance troupes’ that Bentley had thrown together fall apart due to Bentley’s growing frustration with their inability to pick up the moves fast enough. His brother never did quite understand why other seven year olds weren’t also natural dancers. Sighing he grabbed his own bag, heading for his AP History class with Tina and Artie in tow. One more week and they would be in LA. One more week and Glee club as they knew it would be over forever, only the seniors last Nationals competition currently stood in their way.

* * *

Blaine trembled slightly as Jean Baptiste and the members of 'Throat Explosion’ marched past the New Directions, each of them smirking and hollering as they went. The rest of the glee club stood in shock, mouths dropped open, watching their competition stride confidently for the elevator bank that would take them to the hotel rooms they were staying in.

Mercedes was the first to recover, coughing loudly and levelling each of the younger New Directions with an intense stare. “We have got to beat them.”

“And we will…looks like we have our own cheerleader,” Artie sniggered, watching the tall boy saunter across the lobby towards them, pulling off a pair of black Ray Bans with a grin.

“Kurt!” Blaine yelled, launching himself at his boyfriend and instantly locking lips with him, shooting Bentley the finger when the boy started fake gagging behind them.

Mr Schuester cleared his throat quietly, eyebrows rising when the two boys ignored him. Shooting Finn a look, he motioned towards the two teenagers. Finn raised his own eyebrow looking from his brother to Mr Schue and back again. Finally understanding what the older man was asking he shook his head vehemently, marching to the desk to check the group in. Mercedes shook her head fondly at the two lovers before following Finn to ensure he checked everyone in to the right rooms.

“Blaine, you’re erm, you’re going to have to erm, share a room with the rest of the glee boys,” Mr Schuester said firmly, finally gaining the attention of the duo when Blaine pulled away from Kurt with a pout.

Kurt glared at the older man, glad to no longer call him a teacher, before pulling away and sighing, wrapping an arm around Blaine’s waist. “No good staying with me anyway,” He smiled squeezing Blaine’s waist lightly before releasing him.

“Why not?”

“Blainey! Benny!”

“Oh dear god no,” Blaine groaned, whipping around to see a hoard of his brothers enter the lobby. Quickly doing a head count, he frowned when he noticed three missing.

Kurt laughed gently, “Yep the second I said I was coming I suddenly had an entourage gate crashing my room.”

Tilting his head he turned to Kurt curiously, “Why aren’t they staying with Cooper and Austin?”

“Cooper kicked me out,” Austin’s voice boomed across the lobby as he and Pippin rounded the corner wearing matching Hawaiian shirts and board shorts, completing their outfits with large wicker hats. Blaine shook his head when his head count now showed only Cooper missing.

“I wonder why,” Bentley muttered under his breath, eyeing the older twins outfits up and down with a horrified look. He yelped when Blaine elbowed him in the side and glared at him.

“Why?” Sam asked, grinning at the twins and high fiving them each separately.

Austin rolled his eyes and crossed his arms across his chest, dropping onto the arm of the armchair Marley was sitting in and winking at the girl to make her laugh, Blaine smacking him round the head and glaring at him steadfastly. “Apparently he has a super important audition and I’d just be distracting him,” Austin grinned at his twin and rolled his tongue over his lip ring. “That and Pippin landed last night and we may have pissed him off a fair bit.”

“There we go,” Kurt muttered rolling his eyes and kissing Blaine’s temple quickly before going to greet Finn and Mercedes at the counter.

Bentley frowned, eyeing each of his brothers as they filled out the relatively large lobby. “That still doesn’t explain why you’re all staying in Kurt’s room though.”

Noah beamed and slung an arm around Bentley’s shoulders. “In the defence of your older brothers Sunshine,” Bentley stomped on his foot and threw him a dirty look shrugging out of his hold when Noah laughed. “Lijah, Luc and I have our own room.”

“Why don’t the rest of you have your own rooms anyway?” Elijah asked, glancing around at each of his younger brothers and Ollie with a raised eyebrow.

“To be honest we weren’t going to come. We managed to catch the flight with Kurt last minute,” Jude grinned.

Reed, Pippin and Austin glanced quickly to each other with twinkling eyes, “Ditto.”

“Because you losers couldn’t afford to get your own rooms at any hotel in this city last minute,” Blaine grumbled rolling his eyes.

Pippin chuckled softly pulling Blaine onto the couch with him. “But little brother this is just so much more fun!” Blaine laughed softly, allowing his head to fall to his big brother’s shoulder.

“At least we let Kurt have the bed!” Reed grinned bouncing down on Blaine’s other side and snuggling into his younger brother.

“Thank the lord for small mercies,” Kurt muttered returning to the group with Finn and a bunch of room keys.

“Okay so boys you’re in 1012 and girls you’re in 1007,” Finn smirked, “And Mr Schue, Mercedes and I all have rooms between you so don’t try anything.” The glee club grumbled lowly collecting all of their belongings and starting to head for the elevators.

Kurt glanced to the pile of brothers curled up on the couch and on the floor surrounding the couch catching up. He grinned at Blaine still snuggled up between Pippin and Reed looking half asleep but happier than he had during the last six weeks of their Skype sessions. Kurt could easily say from experience that Skype sessions made no comparison to an in person catch up, especially for someone like Blaine who responded to physical contact. Tossing his room keys to Austin he shot him a grin and followed Mercedes to the elevator bank, planning to help her pick out her outfit for the competition.

* * *

Kurt yawned and stretched in the early morning LA sun. He had fully been intending to sleep in after his first night in the City of Angels. This should have been his first day with no early morning dance classes or early morning shifts at the diner, or early morning flights to New York from Ohio, in almost two months. Sharing a room with Blaine’s brothers though it had quickly become evident that Pippin and Austin’s synchronised snoring, coupled with Jude murmuring in his sleep, was going to leave no chance of sleeping late before the competition. Kurt attached his iPhone to his armband and placed the ear buds in his ears carefully. He took a deep breath of warm salty air before starting to jog along the beach, the shimmering Pacific Ocean crashing on his left hand side and the 'Wicked’ soundtrack blasting in his ears.

Spotting a familiar head of spiked up black hair a mile into his run Kurt glanced to his watch, raising an eyebrow when he noticed it was still only seven thirty. Veering to his left, he jogged towards the young man and dropped onto the warm sand beside him chuckling as Reed jumped a mile into the air.

“Jesus dude. You gave me a freaking heart attack,” Reed sighed, running a hand through his hair as Kurt pulled out his ear bud.

“I’m sorry what?”

Reed just glared at his brother’s boyfriend, muttering to himself and returning to running his hands through the sand. Kurt eyed him closely, taking in the deep purple circles under the newly turned twenty year olds eyes and the paler than normal complexion.

“So do you want to tell me what’s going on Reedy?” Kurt smiled softly, nudging the slightly older boy gently with his shoulder and lifting his sunglasses to the top of his head. “You look like you haven’t slept in a week at least.”

Reed chewed his bottom lip nervously eyes, staring out at the endless water stretching out before him, the waves muting the noises of the wakening city that lay beyond the beach. Sighing loudly, he turned to face Kurt, smiling softly when Kurt followed his lead, their crossed knees touching as they looked at each other.

“Is it seriously clichéd if I say that I’m confused?” He asked, eyes boring into Kurt’s, hands twisting together on his lap.

Kurt reached out and took one of the young mans shaking hands in his, “I would say confused about what but I’m pretty sure you’ve been battling this for the whole six months I’ve known you.”

“Has it really only been six months?” Reed asked wryly, tearing his eyes from Kurt’s when the blue eyed boy raised an eyebrow at the attempt to change the subject.

“Sebastian?”

“Yeah,” Reed murmured, releasing a breath he didn’t realise he had been holding. He placed one hand over his heart, feeling it racing at the simple mention of the Dalton boys name while his chest felt like it was starting to untangle from the knots that had built up over the last few months of his worrying and fretting. “Sebastian.”

Kurt smiled gently, squeezing Reed’s hand. “And what about him?”

“I think I’m in love with him Kurt.” Reed’s lost coffee coloured eyes, so much like Blaine’s that Kurt felt the tug on his heartstrings, searched Kurt’s understanding ones pleading silently for help. “I don’t understand.” Reed pounded the sand in frustration, “And we had a hell of an argument two weeks ago and I haven’t spoken to him since. I miss him Kurt.” Reed’s voice cracked with the last statement and he blinked rapidly trying to clear the tears flooding his vision.

Kurt reached out and carefully took hold of Reed’s other hand. “What did you guys fight about?”

Reed shook his head laughing harshly, “It was stupid really, well probably not I guess.” He drew in a shaky breath, “Bash asked what he was to me and I couldn’t give him an answer. He hung up and hasn’t picked up the phone or answered any messages since, but I know he was over at your house the other day because Benny messaged to ask why he looked like shit.”

“Much like you,” Kurt smirked, grinning when he earned himself a sharp chuckle from Reed. “If you think you’re in love with him what’s the problem?”

“I’ve never felt this way about a guy before,” Reed ran a quivering hand down his face. “I’ve only ever been with girls up 'til now, not that any of those relationships ever lasted long at all, or that there have been many of them.”

Kurt tilted his head to the side, “Have you ever found guys attractive before now?”

Reed snorted lightly, “I was fifteen when Blaine came out to us and I had Jude and Ollie around not long after that. If you don’t think I’ve heard every argument you could possibly hear about why Zac Efron or Leonardo Dicaprio are ridiculously hot you must be dreaming.” Eyes flickering over to the ocean Reed smiled softly at the memories of arguments that had floated around the dining room table once Blaine and Jude had both come out, each of their brothers more than eager to give their own opinions on the celebrity of choice that month. He was definitely thankful that at least some of his family was as progressive as the brothers were.

“And your opinions on that?”

Reed shrugged, “Not my type.” He smiled softly, “But I did always have a slight thing for John Mulaney from SNL… and maybe Andrew Garfield if he had green eyes.”

Kurt chuckled softly, well aware of who both of those celebrities looked like. “You know your brother taught me something once Reed. It pissed me off completely at the time and caused a massive argument between us but that was only because I was jealous and he was going on a date with Rachel Berry.” Reed’s eyebrows shot into his hairline and Kurt chuckled softly, shrugging good naturedly, and ignoring Reed’s unasked question, “All I wanted at that point was for him to be mine.”

“That’s all you still want now.”

“Oh absolutely,” Kurt nodded, fingers finding the necklace around his neck and fiddling discretely with the ring attached to it, “forever if I get my way, and I make sure I get my way these days.” Reed laughed softly and Kurt beamed at him. “But he told me 'you fall in love with a person, not with a gender’ and he was right. I mean sure there has to be attraction and I guess that’s what truly ends up separating everyone at the end of the day. I mean some people are attracted to men, some to women and some to both. It’s as simple as that. It’s people butting in with opinions that really shouldn’t matter that complicate everything.” Kurt frowned slightly, his own fingers running through the cool sand. “I don’t try to understand it but you know I can’t say that if Blaine were a girl I’d love him any less than I do. I may not be attracted to him, but I’d still love him and he’d still be my best friend.”

“I kissed him at the twins birthday,” Reed whispered with a small smile.

“Uh-huh and how was that?”

“Magical.”

Kurt laughed softly, “Boy you’ve got it bad.”

Groaning Reed fell backwards onto the sand. “I know. That’s part of the problem.”

“Honestly Reed, I’m not sure I’m the person you should be talking to all of this about but I’m honoured you did choose me and I think you guys should give this a shot,” Kurt grinned standing up and dusting the sand from his shorts. “I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen the two of you happier than when you’re together.”

“I need to talk to Bash.” Reed sighed taking Kurt’s hand when it was offered letting Kurt pull him to his feet.

“Yep you do, but right now we have to go and wake everyone up and watch your brothers kick some ass at Nationals.”

“Damn straight,” Reed chuckled, “And Kurt?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” Kurt grinned, tying his sneaker and throwing Reed a look, “Race you back to the hotel!” He shouted before taking off, Reed hot on his heels feeling lighter than he had in months.

* * *

“We won, we won, we won, we won!” Bentley and Sam chanted bouncing around the tiny hotel room and nearly hitting the entire Glee club and Anderson clan on the head with the large Nationals trophy they were tossing back and forth.

Elijah grabbed the trophy as it sailed through the air again, placing it on the ground and glaring at the two teenagers until they sulked off to the corner pouting and pulling faces at Elijah. Rolling his eyes, Elijah barricaded the Nationals trophy against the desk and threw a dirty look at the pair. “You guys may have won but we’re going to end up in the ER with somebody’s eye poked out if you keep throwing that around.” The duo stuck their tongues out at Elijah and went back to pulling faces at him when he laughed.

“I can’t believe how good you guys were,” Noah grinned, reaching over Tina and attempting to ruffle Blaine’s gelled hair. Blaine squeaked and dove behind Kurt and Brittany, glaring at his smirking older brother.

Lucas yelped as Blaine accidentally pushed him into Jake and Marley. “Okay this room is way too freaking small to handle all of these people.”

“No kidding,” Finn muttered glancing around the overcrowded single room filled with extra blankets and pillows for all of the boys currently sharing the small room.

Pippin and Austin glanced at each other eyebrows raised, “Party time!” They whooped, jumping in the air and nearly knocking out Kitty and Unique in the process.

“And where exactly do you idiots suggest we do that with a ton of minors in tow?” Lucas drawled with a shake of his head.

“Party at Cooper’s!” Austin yelled, eyes sparkling.

Lucas sat up on the twin bed with a grin, “Let’s get out of here.”

“Sleepover at Cooper’s!” Noah yelled, leading the charge back to other hotel rooms to pack a small bag.

“Cooper’s going to kill us,” Elijah chuckled, scrubbing his hands down his face, “He specifically said he needed quiet.”

“Lighten up Lij,” Bentley grinned, slinging his backpack over one shoulder and his other arm around his older brother, leading him from the room. “He said the important thing was today which is why he couldn’t come to Nationals. SO anyway I need to go bitch him out for missing my awesome choreography.” Elijah rolled his eyes and pushed Bentley out of the door laughing and chasing him up the corridor to his own room.

“Mr Schue’s going to be mad,” Finn sighed. “I was supposed to keep them all in line.”

Mercedes snorted, folding her arms across her chest, “Like he’s even going to notice Finn. Let’s face it Mr Schue’s a bit preoccupied in any case. I haven’t even seen him since they announced the winners.”

“I feel like that happens at every Nationals competition,” Kurt muttered, pecking Blaine quickly and following the mass exodus from the boys’ room.

* * *

“Bentley I need you to tell me everything you know about art!” Cooper yelled charging into the living room and screeching to a stop in front of his younger brother. Conversation in the room ceased as the gaggle of teenagers and young men turned to stare at Cooper staring at Bentley with wide eyes.

Bentley pulled his flannel trousers over his feet and looked at his eldest brother with inquisitive eyes. “Coop, I’m about to study art and photography at Colombia. What I know took a shit ton of time to learn and would probably take even longer for me to teach you.”

“Can you give me a crash course? I’m begging you Benny,” Cooper dropped down to his knees in front of his brother, throwing in the puppy dog eyes for good measure.

Rolling his eyes, Bentley leaned back against the overstuffed armchair and looked at Cooped through half lidded eyes, knees still drawn up to his chest, “Seriously Coop why the sudden interest?”

“I just really need to know, in particularly what you know about art forgery?”

Eyebrows raising into his curls Bentley smirked at Cooper, Austin and Pippin suddenly joining him on the arms of his chair. “Thinking of a career change Coop?”

Cooper sighed, growling in aggravation. “Please Benny. I’m desperate.”

“Hey Pip, hear that,” Austin grinned at Pippin over the top of Reed’s head.

“Why yes Aus I believe I did just hear Cooper utter those fatal words,” Pippin beamed back at his brother, Cooper groaning and placing his hands over his face.

“He’s desperate,” The twins crowed together.

“Benny boo our advice would be not to give in until you see how far you can get with this first…”

“Get him to drive you anywhere you want while you’re here,” Pippin interjected.

“Ooh or take you to all the theme parks in the area…”

“Do your laundry for at least a year…”

“Buy all your take outs for a year…”

“Aim for a holiday somewhere really far away…”

“I got a role as a world renowned art forger!” Cooper yelled, cutting the twins off before their suggestions could get more out of hand.

The room dropped into silence once more before all of the brothers let out whoops of joy and leapt on top of Cooper. Others present in the living room had the good sense to dive out of the way of the growing pile of laughing Anderson brothers.

“Seriously Coop?” Noah grinned.

“That’s awesome!” Elijah frowned suddenly whacking Cooper’s arm and glaring at him, “Why the hell didn’t you tell anyone?”

Cooper chuckled softly, “I really, really wanted this one guys and I just didn’t want to jinx it. Let’s face it, I’m not the best actor in the world.”

“So this is why you’ve been so much of a pain in the ass lately!” Austin snickered, ignoring Cooper’s glare.

Blaine rolled his eyes, elbowing Austin sharply in his side. “Coop, you’re better than you think you are,” He paused, tilting his head to the side slightly, “Just don’t try to teach it again, that you’re not so good at.”

“So…what does the role entail?” Bentley smirked eyes twinkling, “And yes I will try to teach you as much as I can before you start filming.”

“Okay so the show’s called 'White Collar’ and I play a guy called Neal Caffrey,” Cooper’s whole face lit up as he lamented what the role would involve to his fully entranced audience, his brothers thrilled Cooper had finally found a show that would last beyond one episode.

Cooper slowly trailed off, after he had described everything he knew so far about the show, eyes blinking at the other faces watching him from around his living room. His brow furrowed in confusion and he tilted his head mentally trying to count all of the teenagers and young adults camped out in his living room. “Wait why are there so many teenagers in my house?” He questioned eyes searching the glee club members and his brothers curiously.

The brothers each just looked at each other laughing lightly and sending a barrage of pillows at Cooper as he yelped and dove out of the way yelling at them to stop.

* * *

Cooper’s eyes darted around the airport, desperately trying to keep an eye on each of his brothers to make sure that they weren’t getting themselves into yet more trouble. “Damn twenty odd year olds I should’ve stopped having to do this when they were teenagers.” Watching Austin and Pippin commandeer a luggage trolley he raised an eyebrow at them, shaking his head when they sheepishly stepped back from it again. “I hate airports,” He sulked, watching Kurt and Blaine whisper to each other in the nearby chairs.

“Hey Coop?” Jude smiled shyly appearing at his oldest brothers side.

Cooper smiled, patting the spot beside him on the floor with a smile. “What’s up Twinkle Toes?” Jude rolled his eyes with a small smile, sliding down the wall and resting his head on Cooper’s shoulder. “I haven’t seen you around much while you’ve been here.”

“I’m not the one who was avoiding his family for three days.”

“Point taken,” Cooper laughed softly, leaning his head on top of Jude’s curls.

“Seriously though Coop, congratulations you really, really deserve this.”

“Thanks Jude. Now what did you come over here for?”

Slowly unzipping his carry on bag, Jude pulled out an envelope and turned it over in his hands three times, chewing his lip nervously before handing it to a curious Cooper. Motioning for his brother to open the envelope, Jude watched Cooper’s icy blue eyes widen as he read the ticket in the envelope.

“You want me to come to your graduation?” Cooper grinned, knowing how hard Jude had fought to get more tickets than the two he had been allocated. The twenty two year old had been fretting down the phone to his oldest brother for the last six months over what he would do if he couldn’t get enough for his family to be there. “Jude are you sure?”

Jude nodded vehemently. “Ollie got first choice in all honestly, and I genuinely think he wouldn’t have hesitated to murder anyone else to get a ticket if I hadn’t given him the first one,” Jude frowned, shaking his head fondly as Cooper laughed. “But Coop…you raised me. Let’s face it, from a ridiculously young age you gave up so much to help raise me, to help raise all of us. I’m not even sure I’d have ever even gotten into Julliard without your pushing. You were the one who first signed me up for dance classes back in Ohio…”

“Well I needed some way for you to release all the damn energy you always seemed to have.”

Jude glared but laughed gently, “I want you there Coop.”

“I’d be honoured,” Cooper grinned, pulling Jude closer and holding him tightly. “So June seventh huh?”

“Yeah,” Jude beamed, “At that point I become a fully fledged member of the New York City Ballet Company.”

“I’m proud of you Jude.”

“Thank you,” Jude whispered, leaning his head on Cooper’s shoulder again.

* * *

“Kurt!” Reed yelled, screeching to a stop in front of Kurt and Blaine, cheeks flushed and eyes shining.

“Damn Reed where’s the fire?” Blaine snickered sleepily, his head tucked into Kurt’s neck. Smiling at his brother, he leaned closer into his boyfriend and closed his eyes again determined to catch twenty minutes sleep while he was wrapped up in Kurt’s arms.

“Kurt I called Bash!” Reed beamed manically.

“And?” Kurt grinned, sitting bolt upright to look at the ecstatic young man. Rolling his eyes at Blaine’s whine of discontent he wrapped his arms tightly back around the teenager, smiling when he felt him nuzzle the ring hidden under his shirt before looking back to Reed.

“He’s going to fly to Atlanta for the weekend,” Reed jumped when his phone vibrated chuckling softly at it and swiftly typing out a reply. “We’re going to discuss everything. I mean it’s not a solution but…”

“It’s a start,” Kurt said happily, chuckling when Reed jumped at the overhead announcing the boarding of a handful of the flights that the brother’s would be taking out of LAX.

Pulling Blaine to his feet, Kurt chuckled as he watched Blaine instantly be swept up into bone crushing hugs by his older brothers. Glancing to the side and seeing Ollie standing watching the Anderson’s affectionately Kurt headed over to join him.

“They may be complete idiots but they sure do love each other,” Ollie smiled, laughing as Bentley tried to escape the group hug only for Lucas to grab his collar and haul him back into the middle.

“Wait! We’re missing something,” Austin sighed pulling back slightly.

Pippin smirked when his eyes caught on his twins, “Group shuffle!”

“Oh no,” Ollie cried trying to dodge out of the way and failing as the brothers grabbed the two closest extensions of their family and pulled them into the cuddle.

Cooper chuckled stepping back, “Right let everyone go before they miss their damn flights and I’m stuck with them for longer.”

“Well that’s just positively mean Coop,” Pippin pouted, “Maybe I should try the comedy circuit in LA.”

“Yes!” Austin grinned.

Cooper’s face went slack and he shoved Pippin’s carry on bag into his arms, “Hell no. You are getting on that flight to Chicago if I have to march you onto the plane and strap you down myself. As for the rest of you I will see you in Ohio on June fifth for the twins graduation.”

“Our babies are graduating,” Pippin and Austin each faux sobbed grabbing the younger twins who valiantly tried to fight them off.

“We’re going straight from there to New York for Jude’s on the seventh right?” Reed said still beaming at his phone.

“Erm guys, I couldn’t get you all tickets,” Jude murmured sheepishly, leaning on Ollie.

The brothers all turned to look at him, identical mystified expressions on their faces making the Glee club and Kurt laugh. “Julian Alexander Anderson if you think that’s going to stop us from cheering loudly for you in the middle of NYC or taking you out for a celebration you are seriously deluded,” Elijah chuckled.

“Yeah bro, any excuse to embarrass each other right?” Noah grinned.

“You guys are idiots,” Jude said, hiding his face in Ollie’s shoulder when his voice cracked.

“Right let’s go home time for you morons,” Cooper smirked, trying to push them all towards security, “You’ve all wreaked enough havoc on my city and it needs time to recover.”

 


	12. End Of The Line

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! It's a day later than I wanted it to be but it's here Chapter 12. Thank you so much to everyone who read, commented on, gave kudos and subscribed after the last chapter it's totally amazing that so many people are still interested in this story after all this time. Anyway please enjoy chapter 12 you guys and let me know what you think!

 

Lucas groaned as he watched Austin and Pippin stumble yawning from the younger twins room, joining the line currently waiting in the hallway. Sighing he banged his fist repeatedly off of the bathroom door, "Kurt would you get out of the damn bathroom already you've been in there for over an hour and a line's formed!"

"Use Sam and the twins'!" Kurt responded a resounding crash making each of the brothers wince while Austin perked up at the string of curse words that followed, as proud as if he had been the one to teach them to Kurt himself.

Reed jigged around on the spot, shoving Sebastian when he laughed at him, "Blaine's been in that one for an hour."

"Tough then."

"Kurt I'm desperate!" Reed whined bouncing up and down and biting his bottom lip.

"I'm going to go use the freaking garden hose," Noah mumbled rolling his eyes and pushing down the stairs.

Sebastian sniggered before shrugging and following after the pharmacist, dragging a protesting Reed down the stairs with him as he went. Austin and Pippin glanced to each other, grinning and hightailing it down the stairs after the newly founded couple. Reed's resounding shriek moments later confirmed to the others stood in the hallway that he had been used as the guinea pig for the new method of 'showering' they had decided to attempt.

Elijah emerged from a closed door and eyed the group still waiting on the landing, "What are you idiots standing around for?"

"Kurt and Blaine are hogging the bathrooms," Sam yawned, leaning heavily on Ollie's shoulder. The dancer eyed him suspiciously, elbowing him away in disgust when Sam started to drool on his shoulder. Grabbing the t-shirt the blonde haired boy was holding he wiped the drool off before side eyeing him and switching places in the line with Jude.

Sam quickly uncrumpled his t-shirt staring at the drool patch in utter horror. "Oliver what am I going to wear from graduation now?"

Ollie stared at him, "You are joking right? There's no way you were going to wear that for your graduation." Sam's look of confusion told Ollie everything he needed to know and he shook his head in despair using one hand to massage his temple, "Sweet Jesus."

Snickering Elijah shook his head and folded his arms across his chest, "Sam you've lived here for over a year…"

"Yep."

"How many bathrooms are there in this place?" Elijah smirked eyebrow raised.

Sam's face slowly turned to a grin and he thundered down the stairs, "There's a shower in the basement. See you later suckers."

"Pity that Kitty's already in that one," Elijah chuckled glancing to the other four still gathered in the hallway. "There's a bathroom in Burt and Carole's room that they said we could use…" The words instantly triggered a stampede of the remaining occupants in the hallway and Elijah dove out of the way with a shriek to avoid being trampled on by the enthusiastic young men.

Ollie winning the battle at the door he promptly slammed it in the trio's faces, Elijah sniggering as they slumped back into the hallway sulking. "This is not freaking fair," Lucas whined, "I was one of the first awake!"

"Should've got ready straight away then," Kurt smirked emerging from the bathroom in tight blue pants and a matching blazer.

"Thanks Kurt," Jude grinned slipping between his brothers and shutting the door forcefully laughing and ignoring the pounding on the door.

"I would've been so happy as an only child," Lucas growled, ignoring Kurt and Elijah laughing as they headed to find out what Burt and Carole were up to.

* * *

"Blaine what are you doing?" Cooper questioned with a raised eyebrow, a slice of buttered toast hanging halfway between his plate and his mouth while he watched his brother stumble around the kitchen as though he were drunk.

"Not Blaine," the twin mumbled, arms stretched out in front of himself.

Rolling his eyes and standing to force Bentley into a chair before he injured himself before his graduation ceremony, Cooper placed a gentle hand on one of his baby brothers shoulders. "And where exactly are your glasses?"

Bentley ran a hand through his curls breathing out a ragged sigh, "As far as I knew where I always leave them when I go to sleep, on the edge of the desk in our room."

"Oh Benny, rookie mistake."

Scrunching his face in confusion, Bentley turned to the blob that he presumed was his brother, "What do you mean?"

Cooper grinned, "Who were you sharing a room with last night?" Watching his brother slowly do the math in his head, Cooper chuckled in amusement.

"I'm going to kill them!" Bentley growled standing up and immediately bumping into the table, whimpering at his stubbed toe.

"Jesus Benny sit down before you injure yourself further, let me handle this." Wincing when Bentley's head fell to the table with a resounding thud, Cooper turned to the glass door leading to outside where the older twins and Jude were currently conspiring over something in the corner.

* * *

"You broke them?" Jude gasped taking the two halves of Bentley's glasses from Pippin's hands. Grimacing, he noted the thoroughly shattered glass of the left eye and the snap running clear over where the bridge of the nose should have been.

Pippin wrung his hands together looking thoroughly remorseful, "It was an accident! I rolled on them in the middle of the night."

"Holy crap Pip, how much do you weigh?"

"I am offended by that question thank you very much. I just happen to be a very active sleeper."

"Meaning he was playing with them in his sleep and managed to snap them literally in two," Austin drawled staring at the broken frames remorsefully.

"You broke Benny's glasses?" Cooper hissed, smirking when the trio of brothers held up their hands.

"Not us," Austin and Jude sighed.

"I didn't mean to Coop, honest, I wouldn't today of all days. They're stressed enough as it is for some reason." Pippin ran his hands through his long curls and groaned loudly leaning his head on Austin's shoulder, smiling slightly when he felt his twins arm wrap tightly around him.

Cooper rolled his eyes and fell to the soft grass beckoning his brothers to join him on the ground and pulling his sunglasses over his eyes to block a little of the gloriously shining early morning sun. "Just because they actually care about their graduation and not about how many firecrackers they can get away with before getting kicked out."

Pippin and Austin hi-fived, remembering the sheer glee of being able to aggravate the teachers that they had hated one final time. Of course their brothers had found the incident hilarious, the faculty of Bryce-Wood Prep not so much, but the teachers had been thankful to see the backs of the Anderson twins after that day.

"They're not stressed about graduation," Jude ran his hands over his face and let out a long breath, "Mother and Father are in Ohio. Blaine saw it in the newspaper last night they have some fancy dinner thing to go to."

Cooper paled and the twins sat up straighter Austin giving up with picking at the grass as they all stared at Jude. "You can't be serious."

"Deadly."

Resuming his grass picking again, Austin muttered to himself under his breath only stopping to throw a handful of grass into the air. "Can we focus on one problem at a time? What are we going to do about Benny's glasses?" Tossing the two halves into the middle of the circle the others all sighed collectively, turning back to the house when they heard laughter drifting their way.

Blaine leaned back on the bannister of the wrap around veranda, eyes covered by his yellow sunglasses and a smirk covering the lower half of his face. "You do know that you're being played right?" At their curious gazes he rolled his eyes and lifted his sunglasses onto his gelled head. "You guys realise he has like six spare pairs because he always breaks them right? He knew fine well who had them and was seeing how far he could push you."

Pippin's mouth opened and closed like a fish, pushing himself to his feet, "That little sneak I'm going to kill him."

Cooper stood up quickly, grabbing Pippin by the collar of his navy and red checked shirt when he tried to push past Blaine into the house. "No you're not, not today at least."

Blaine grinned, "Look at it this way Pip, if you don't get him back straight away he'll never know when it's coming and we're together through Sunday. That's plenty of time and two more flights until we separate again."

"Excellent," Pippin smirked tossing Bentley's broken glasses to Blaine and heading back inside to see if he could rustle up some breakfast.

"Why do we always seem to be making death threats to each other?" Cooper muttered, wrapping an arm around Blaine's shoulders and leading him inside the house.

"We're brothers, it's what we do," Blaine shrugged, straightening the edge of Cooper's collar.

"One day one of us will actually act on that impulse," Jude yawned only to be met with a hand to the back of his head from Cooper.

"Do not give them ideas Julian."

* * *

"How are they graduating?" Cooper sniffled, surreptitiously wiping under his eyes when he spotted his two baby brother's sat in amongst the graduating seniors on the McKinley football pitch.

Burt chuckled softly and patted him on the shoulder comfortingly, fending off Lucas when he moved to make fun of Cooper. "Seems like two minutes ago they were just babies right?"

"Exactly," Cooper laughed softly, rubbing at his eyes, "Oh man, allergies."

"Of course its allergies Cooper," Burt snorted shaking his head. "It has nothing to do with the fact that the last of the kids you basically raised are graduating from high school at all." Glancing down the row to where his wife had her arms wrapped around a sobbing Elijah he chuckled softly, "You and Elijah did a damn good job raising kids as kids yourselves."

Cooper shrugged, waving at Bentley when he started waving at the family like a madman and laughing when Blaine pulled him back down into his seat again. "They're my brothers. We stick together."

"And that's the way it should be," Burt smiled his smile growing when he felt Kurt lean his head on his Father's shoulder.

"Family sticks together," The blue eyed teenager beamed, "And we now have one hell of a family."

* * *

Principal Figgins stood at the podium, watching the class of graduating seniors thoughtfully and glancing to their families sat further back on the McKinley High School football field. "And now I present the Class of 2013's valedictorian Mr Blaine Anderson." Frowning at the chanting that filled the stadium from the back of the field and at Bentley Anderson and Sam Evans jumping up and down on their own seats the principal gladly handed over the microphone to a red cheeked Blaine. Blaine in turn glared quickly at his brothers, both biological and by circumstance, until they calmed down and seated themselves once more.

Blaine took a deep breath as he took his place at the podium, heart thundering in his chest underneath his gown and crisp sky blue shirt. As a performer Blaine was used to nerves, but standing up in front of his entire high school graduating class was more than a little unnerving. The youngest Anderson took a deep breath before launching into the eight minute speech he had been practicing over Skype with Cooper and Elijah for the past month and a half.

"As a personal hero of mine JK Rowling once said ' _We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.'_ Our time at McKinley high school has helped us to find the power we hold inside ourselves whether that be through football, athletics, the AV club, the glee club or many of the other activities that we each participated in. It is up to us as we move forward with our future careers and college paths to harness the power that McKinley has shown each of us we have and transform that power into something useful so that we can each start to change the world one step at a time…"

Once Blaine's speech was finished and the brothers had finally calmed down from their rapturous applause and cheering Principal Figgins started to rattle through the long list of names of the graduating class. Pausing as he reached each of the graduating Anderson brothers and Sam Evans, he sent a glare into the audience where he believed the never ending cheering was coming from. His eyes flickered over the row of young men who all looked at least vaguely like one another as his former student Kurt Hummel seemed to attempt to battle some of them back into their chairs so that the ceremony could continue.

"I now gladly present to you the McKinley High School class of 2013!" Principal Figgins jumped out of the way as a parade of red caps suddenly flew into the air, cheering echoing throughout the football field as students and families alike began their celebrations.

* * *

"I did it, I did it, I did it!" Bentley yelled sprinting towards Burt and Carole and throwing himself into a chuckling Burt's arms, "I actually graduated high school Dad!" Pulling back and grinning at a stunned looking Burt Bentley bounced up and down, letting Carole pull him in for a tight hug, "I actually did it!" Stepping apart from Carole Bentley squeaked with laughter when he found himself at the bottom of a pile on from some of his older brothers.

"He…he called me Dad," Burt murmured in awe, eyes watering as he watched Bentley and Blaine bounce around waving their diplomas in the air while Kurt laughed. He had grown used to many of the Anderson boys calling him 'Dad' by this point, but Bentley had never called him anything but Burt before now.

"I know honey," Carole laughed wrapping an arm around Burt's waist and leaning her head on his shoulder as she watched her boys interacting, Finn looking horrified at something Austin was telling him. "It's about to get extremely quiet at home."

Burt shook his head sadly, "Too quiet, especially with Finn heading to Chicago too. God help the windy city with Pippin and Finn on the loose," He chuckled softly.

"We could always adopt."

Burt turned to look at her as though she'd gone mad, "Carole I love our boys but there are already sixteen of them, when you take into account their other halves, and that is by far enough."

"I guess we'll just have to pull them kicking and screaming back here from time to time then," She smiled, laughing when Sebastian started to chase Reed around the field, catching up to him and throwing him over one shoulder. "I'm really going to miss them."

"They're our boys Carole, we're still going to see all them at every holiday and we'll fly out to see them wherever they are too," Burt smiled holding his wife tightly, "Not to mention we already speak to all of the guys who don't live in Ohio at least once a week."

"I'm still going to miss having them here all the time."

"Me too."

* * *

"So who's driving who to the restaurant then? Let's face it we can't all fit in one car," Noah grinned, twirling his own rental car keys around in his hand and watching Austin toss his own in the air.

Sam and Blaine glanced to each other. "Actually we kind of had another plan," Sam shrugged pulling his ruby red graduation gown over his head.

Bentley beamed as he bounced over to them, "We just want a chilled family night."

"Pizza, movies and family time!" Blaine beamed, glancing to Burt who smiled and nodded in agreement of the boys plan.

Kurt pulled a face, observing Austin's falling keys carefully, "I'm not getting in a car with Austin driving and neither is Blaine."

"Spoilsport," Austin muttered sticking his tongue out at Kurt.

Kurt snorted wrapping an arm around Blaine's waist and drawing him close, "No I'd just rather live to at least see Jude graduate on Friday."

Cooper rolled his eyes, "I'll take the Anderson graduates, Kurt and Kitty, the rest of you fight amongst yourselves." Wandering towards the car park whistling to himself, Cooper grinned when he heard the scrambling of the four teenagers running to catch up with him and fighting breaking out amongst the remaining. His grin grew when he heard Burt intervene ordering the group of boys to the three remaining cars.

* * *

"Have I mentioned how proud I am of you?" Kurt beamed, pressing his lips to Blaine's and resting his forehead on the shorter boys, feeling the lump of the hidden ring hanging around Blaine's neck against his chest. "And that I love you."

"Maybe once or twice," Blaine laughed breathlessly, eyes glittering where they gazed directly into Kurt's stormy ones. "I love you too Mio Bella."

Sebastian poked his head round the corner of the alcove in which they were standing, eyebrow raised and signature smirk plastered on his face. "If you two are done being disgustingly lovey dovey Burt said to tell you that the pizzas are here and you're going to miss out if you don't hurry up."

Sebastian stumbled forewards, arms flinging back to grab Reed's legs when he dived onto his back. "Sebastian Edward Smythe leave them alone or I'll let them know exactly how 'lovey dovey' you can be when we're alone."

"You wouldn't dare Anderson," Sebastian growled tickling his legs slightly making Reed yelp and wrap them tighter around his middle.

"Try me Bash," He laughed, leaning his head on Sebastian's when the teenager took off looking for the rest of the family and the pizza. Kurt and Blaine stared after the two in wonder shaking their heads and following in their path, hands clutched tightly between them.

"Did you ever see this coming?" Blaine murmured to Kurt quietly, watching Reed and Sebastian laughing together and curling into one another on the blankets placed on the floor. "I mean I never thought I'd see Seb like this and I've never seen Reed happier."

"I had an inkling," Kurt laughed passing Blaine a plate of pizza and pulling him onto the couch with Jude and Ollie getting ready to start a 'High School Musical' marathon at the request of the twins. "Even the criminal chipmunk needs love Blaine." Blaine cracked up, burrowing his face into Kurt's shoulder as his whole body shook with laughter. The opening bars of 'Start of Something New' chimed and Blaine rested his head on Kurt's shoulder, careful not to get pizza anywhere near Kurt's shirt.

Elijah rolled his eyes with a smile as the first movie started up, "Jeez this is like the sound of your guys childhoods."

Bentley grinned, "Tell me about it."

"We were ten when the first one came out," Blaine grinned through a mouthful of pepperoni earning a disgusted glance from Elijah.

Noah snorted, side eyeing the twins, "Yeah and I remember you idiots trying to perform 'Get'cha Head In The Game' complete with a basketball and nearly breaking your noses that summer."

The twins stuck their tongues out at Noah as the rest of the room shushed them, settling down to watch the musical trilogy.

Three films later and a room full of half asleep young men and Kitty, Burt chuckled lightly, aware that waking them up for their flight to New York in the morning would be a nightmare. "Right bed everyone, we have to be up early tomorrow for the flight to New York," Burt commanded, standing up and stretching whilst Reed and Jude looked at each other in horror.

"I haven't packed yet!" They yelled, thundering up the stairs with their respective boyfriend and husband following just behind.

* * *

Burt looked around the large group spread out in the boarding gate and shook his head slowly unable to believe that this was his family now. "Travelling with this many people should be illegal," He mumbled silently doing a head count to make sure that all eighteen people who had checked in were still together.

"Silently doing a head count?" Cooper asked clutching a large coffee in one hand and appearing at Burt's side with a grin.

"How did you know?"

Elijah laughed softly walking up to Burt's other side, "Because we recognise the look on each others faces as soon as we zone out to do a head count."

Cooper nodded thoughtfully, "We've done far too many to count by this point, especially with how often Blaine and Benny used to wander off whenever they found something interesting."

"Well at least they're better at not getting lost now."

"Yeah after we lost Blaine in the middle of Disney World when he was seven," The oldest brother snorted shaking his head and looking to the youngest brother, currently curled up with his head on Kurt's lap whilst Kurt read a book and threaded his fingers through the napping boys curls.

"You lost Blaine in Disney World?" Burt asked raising his eyebrow.

"Only for an hour…or two," Elijah gulped also glancing to his sleeping brother and smiling at Kurt when the teenager raised his head to look at them.

Burt chuckled softly, "Scariest experience of your lives?"

"You have no idea," The two brothers breathed as one.

"The main thing now is to make sure none of this luggage gets left behind," Elijah sighed glancing around all of the backpacks and cabin sized roll along bags that littered the ground around the make shift family. "We don't need to accidentally cause another airport scare like that again."

Both Burt and Cooper shook their heads solemnly until Burt fully processed what Elijah had said. "Wait, what do you mean again?"

* * *

"Why are there so many of us?" Lucas whined climbing carefully over Kurt and Blaine to drop onto the floor beside Reed and Sebastian.

"Because our family is freaking enormous and we somehow managed to practically double it lately?" Reed asked swiping Sebastian's iced coffee from his hand and drinking the rest of it in one go while his boyfriend pouted beside him.

Noah grinned, "Hey look at it this way, we have like the entire coach section of the plane."

"Near enough at least," Blaine mumbled from Kurt's lap, rolling over to face his brothers while Sebastian snickered and pressed a swift kiss to Reed's cheek.

Lucas eyes scanned the group and landed on Bentley talking animatedly with kitty and Finn, "Why is Kitty here anyway?"

Bentley glanced over to them, wandering over and dropping down beside Kurt, resting his head on his shoulder before the teenager could protest, Blaine whining as he ended up trapped between their legs. "Because I invited her have a problem?"

"Nope but the rest of you are looking at prospective apartments right?" Lucas asked eyebrow raised.

Bentley tilted his head to the side in confusion, "Yeah and Kitty's helping, duh."

"Isn't she a junior?"

"Senior thank you very much and I did summer school the last few years so once I've completed this round of summer school, I'll be ready to graduate in the Autumn," Kitty smirked, sauntering over to the group and dropping down onto Bentley and Blaine making the younger groan in pain and try to wriggle further into Kurt. "I need to make sure that when I start NYU in the fall I don't get screwed out of a good room with these guys."

"Now that I can understand," Lucas grinned, "Fighting for the best room is a staple of a big family."

Kitty nodded sighing heavily, "Tell me about it. I have six older sisters."

"That's almost worse than having nine brothers," Noah muttered in horror staring at Kitty with admiration when she nodded and leaned into Bentley, closing her eyes with a yawn.

* * *

Austin and Pippin were stood in the middle of their family group singing and trying their hardest to annoy Cooper, full well knowing that his hatred of airports largely stemmed from travelling with the pair of them, " _On the road again, goin' places that I've never been…_  "

"Wait, wait, wait, we've been to New York multiple times before so does this song still apply?" Pippin questioned turning to Austin for answers and ignoring the others laughing around him.

"Hmmm true," Austin tilted his head to the side thoughtfully, " _I want to be a part of it_ …"

" _New York, New York!_ " Everyone joined in laughing while Austin continued the song.

"I really, really hate airports," Cooper sulked, praying that the twins would be sat far, far away from him on the plane.

As if sensing Cooper's need to be very, very far away from them the twins suddenly appeared at his side, one hanging over each of his shoulders, "Hey Coop, guess what?"

Yelping Cooper jumped, turning to glare at each of the twins in turn. "What?" He ground out, teeth gritted in annoyance as he closed the book he was attempting to read.

"You're sitting between us on the flight!" They chimed together, brandishing their tickets for Cooper to read.

Snatching the tickets, Cooper read over the seat numbers several times then looked at his own ticket, squeaking in horror. Glancing round each of the people travelling with him, he noted each of them trying to look busy either pretending to be in deep conversation, or rummaging in their bags, or in Finn's case simply staring at the wall. "Oh god somebody switch with me! Please? Anybody?"


End file.
